Living Vicariously Through My Kids

The kids and I are part of a playgroup through our church. Every Friday we have gotten together with other moms and children to play and hang out and even go on some cool outings. In the last three weeks we have been to Fish Scales (an exotic pet store), Gwinnett Environment and Heritage Center(GEHC), and Gilliland's Alpaca Heritage Farm. These have been some really cool trips.
At Fish Scales, Miss Julie opened up the store just for our group. She let our crazy kids run around and look at all the cool exotic animals in the store. She fed most (if not all) of them while we were there. My favorite was watching the chameleon eating crickets. My fearless daughter touched a bearded dragon, an iguana, and a turtle. She fed lettuce to all three of them and hugged the turtle. Daniel, who is more squeamish like his mother, only touched the turtle towards the end of our visit. He loved watching a small nurse shark swim around in an open tank. I just had a blast, and I think the kids liked it too.



At the GEHC we got to go on a nature walk and find things that were listed on our picture sheet. We found grass, a dead tree, an acorn, leaves, a snake and other things that escape my mind at this point. Then we got to tour the center. They had this cool interactive room for the kids that taught them about the water cycle, ways that we use water, and how water is cleaned. The kids loved to put these balls which were 'water vapor' into a tube that went up into the clouds (evaporation) and once enough water vapor went into the clouds it would rain down the blue balls and the cycle started all over again. They also had a cool theater in which they projected the film onto a wall of water. I hope the kids walked away with the knowledge that water is important/necessary for life.


Miss Angie at the alpaca farm taught us about the difference between a llama and an alpaca (it's all in the ear shape and size). Alpacas have spear shaped ears (llamas have banana shaped ones) and they weigh between 100 and 300 lbs (llamas can get up to 700 lbs). She also told us about how alpaca fleece can be used to make lots of things (we saw gloves, sweaters, scarves, purses, and stuffed animals). Their fleece is hypo-allergenic so those that are allergic to wool could use alpaca as an alternative. Then we got to feed the female alpacas some carrots. Maggie loved them, but Daniel hung back a little until one alpaca, Samantha, laid down ("kushed" in alpaca terminology). Then he felt comfortable enough to pet her back. Despite the cold and rainy weather we enjoyed ourselves. We may have to go back in the spring to see them shear the alpacas.