Reptiland

This morning I took Mitchell to Clyde Peeling's Reptileland, which is only about 15 minutes from our house.  While it's not a full-blown zoo, it is an accredited zoo and has an impressive display of reptiles and amphibians.  Plus they have a butterfly exhibit and just added an outdoor dinosaur exhibit, which I knew Mitchell would love.

 the first time we passed this turtle display it was dark and rainy and you really couldn't see many turtles-they were all underwater.  much to our surprise, when we came back around under sunnier conditions there were MANY turtles that had climbed out onto the rocks (very efficiently in a line/stack) to sun themselves!

 the big daddys...

 hullo...

 this is Rocky-the big daddy of the alligators

 giant snapping turtle

 anaconda-uck!

 yep, he hammed it up with a smile just for me!

 I LOVED the blue frogs but couldn't manage to get a decent shot-they were really playful!

 on the way to the dinosaur exhibit we ran into these two guys... 

 mitchell's first peek at the dinosaur exhibit

 ROOOOOOOOAAARRRRRR!!!!

 the dinosaurs moved and made noises-it was actually more fun to watch all the kid's expressions than it was to look at the dinosaurs!

 I think Mitchell has a newfound respect for T-Rex!

 a baby dinosaur nest complete with chirping and movements!

 this handsome fella hissed and spit at people as they went by!

 Mitchell is doing a little archeological work here, looking for some dinosaur bones!

 we stopped by the butterfly exhibit twice, which I was really happy we did.  The second time we went through some of the butterflies were just hatching from cocoons and we were able to watch them-it was great!

This visit both Mitchell and I were able to touch a boa constrictor.  The last time Mitchell went with Reese he was able to touch a baby alligator and a tarantula too, but I think since there were so many other kids on field trips there today they didn't allow it-I was a little disappointed, but don't get me wrong, I'm totally okay with not touching the tarantula!  Overall a fun morning!