One of my very favorite things about the summer is Nana Camp and this past summer, my mom wanted to take the kids to check out Noah’s Ark.  The flood is coming y’all.  Get building.

Actually it’s not unless you live in DC or Cedar Rapids.  (On a very serious note – to all my friends in those regions…please be safe!) But back to this summer activity….we went to check out Noah’s Ark.  Noah’s Ark is an animal rehabilitation center in Locust Grove Georgia and it was so cute.  Now that the weather is FINALLY starting to cool down, it would be amazing to check it out.

My mom packed a lunch for us and immediately we were swarmed with chickens and ducks.

All the kids were a little freaked out at how aggressive these birds would try to snag their crackers.  It was like in Finding Nemo where the birds were all squawking MINE! MINE! MINE!

You really had to guard your lunch.  And yes….we got in trouble because the kids would throw down their crackers in fear and then the birds would eat it.  Apparently that is a big no-no.

This might be my favorite picture of the day….Max had no idea what to do….and I was hoping that the duck wouldn’t grab one of his little nuggety toes.  They look pretty delicious to me 🙂

You can go on the tour for free if you just want to walk yourself around the paths.  That is what we decided to do….but first we made a donation.  Apparently these animals are a lot of rescues….and there are even exotic animals like tigers…but they cost a lot to feed and care for.  So I’m sure they value every little bit of contributions.  They have a page on ways to help if you are interested.  Here is the link.  This isn’t sponsored or anything….just a fan.

Also….Big Bird’s cousin thanks you 🙂

The kids never saw an ostrich before and when we explained how big their eggs were, their eyes were so big!

Ostriches really are funny looking aren’t they?  Maybe they will make it big one day in the world of decor.  Like the next flamingo 🙂

Will was really excited that a dragonfly landed on him and he was dying for me to take a photo….

They have more than just exotic animals – they also have farm type animals which makes it really fun.

Weston loved the ‘orses’ – we explained to him that they were a donkey and he was looking really hard before he said “NOPE.  Dat’s a ORSE.  a ORSE mommy.”

I’m hoping their were no snakes in that hole!

When we attended, there was a big article about how we should definitely go see the Noah’s Ark BLT.  They had Bears, Lions, and Tigers.  Apparently…Leo the lion has since passed away.  It’s kinda surreal to know that he was there when we visited and then only two weeks later, he was gone.  It makes this place feel very different than a zoo….more important somehow because some of these animals are literally fighting to stay alive.

Which makes sense too….we had a hard time getting a photo of the lion so we settled for getting lots of the very active bears 🙂

Weston and Clay especially liked the monkeys and lemurs.  My mom did too….we now call her the queen of the jungle if that indicates how she interacted with the primates.  She might have been cussing them all out in their language….I guess we will never know 🙂

We also learned a whole lot about white tigers….which are beautiful yes but have a legit ton of problems since they are basically inbred animals.  I never knew that!  They also are born with siblings that are golden usually which are killed because the white tigers are the ones that breeders pick out.  It’s so sad!  I was reading the poster outside the fence and realized what I was about to say out loud and just stopped talking completely because I didn’t want Will to hear…..and he was like “WHAT MOM!?  WHAT HAPPENS TO THE OTHER TIGERS?!”  I hate that.  I know he is only little once and I try to protect his little ears from bad things like people breeding animals just to kill them.  I can’t imagine trying to tell him about kids getting abused or other terrible things.

On a lighter note…this guy reminds me of Jeremy on date night….

After it was all said and done, the kids voted that they loved the birds the best.  I think it was because some of them could talk.

Also because they could actually see them without a zoom lens 🙂

When we were done, LJ was asleep, Will didn’t want to leave and the other kids were ready to cool off.  It ended up being a really memorable time and I am really glad we went because these kinda facilities are really important.

And if you are interested in other Georgia activities, check out this roundup I did of all my favorite spots.  Happy exploring y’all!