A "Hollywild" Birthday Party

My long-term blog readers might remember Philip's first trip to Hollywild Animal Park when he was 8 months old. Well, he got to return last weekend and had much more fun this time!! He actually knows which animals are which and even some of their sounds. This is such a cute age. Our friend Anna who lives across the street invited Philip to her 4th birthday party which was at Hollywild. Jaina (also 4) who lives next door to Anna was invited too. Unfortunately Jaina's parents were unable to go but we happily volunteered to take her with Philip. They agreed and for several hours, Matthew and I were suddenly the parents of two children. We had a great day together. Jaina had Philip laughing in the back seat almost the entire ride to Hollywild. It was neat having a fully communicative child for a change. I do look forward to future days of real conversations with Philip, but once they start, they don't stop (or so I've been told!).


The birthday girl Anna gets ready to blow out her candles while Jaina looks on.


Philip waits for a bite of birthday cake. Such a great way to do a party as the park provided the cake, ice cream and decorations!


Philip and Jaina enjoy the safari bus ride. We had old bread with which to feed the animals.


The deer are fearless when it comes to the buses. They just know buses mean food!!


Philip feeds a baby goat. Funny... just six months ago he was drinking from a bottle!


We had the added bonus of seeing the only albino buffalo in America. It looks like a calf now, but one day will be a really different looking buffalo.