Natural Bridge and Safari

We have had an amazing past few days. Matt is such a sweetheart and he took off a couple of days so we could celebrate our anniversary right. Monday, our actual anniversary, was low key. Exchanged gifts and went out to dinner. We decided to do paper as a traditional gift along with something else. We both ended up giving the other the same paper present which was a letter in a bottle. I thought that was sweet. Tuesday we headed out to Natural Bridge, VA and all the excitement began.

We said we'd leave around 9:00 am but of course that meant we got on the road around 10:30. It was a good thing we did leave late because we found out once we got there that we weren't able to check into our room until four and it was only two o'clock. It was so hot out and Natalie was in such a bad mood. Luckily the package we booked with the hotel included tickets to a butterfly garden, toy museum and wax museum right around the corner. All of the exhibits were very disappointing. After we visited them we still had an hour to kill, so we went on a little drive. Natalie took a huge dump so we pulled over into a parking lot. I tried changing her diaper in the car like I did so many other times before but poo got everywhere. It was awful. Right after that we went back to the hotel and asked if our room was ready. It was about 3:30. Thankfully it was ready. We got settled and Natalie took a nap. After she woke up we decided to go out to see the natural bridge. It was beautiful. Then we got caught in a huge rain storm. There was a shuttle that went from the bridge to the gift shop located right across the street from the hotel. The shuttle driver was so nice though and since we had a baby he dropped us off right in front of the hotel. Then we had some wine, went to dinner and ventured back out to see the bridge for a "light show" at night.

This was Natalie's first over night trip and we planned everything per usual. I would wake up with her during the night to feed her as needed. Well, after feeding her at 4:40 am I closed my eyes. Then I swear I heard whispering in the room. I was freaked out. I absolutely could not go back to sleep after that. I stayed awake trying to calm myself but had no luck. Then I heard a scratching under my pillow. Of course my first thought was that Natalie was scratching the bed in her sleep like she sometimes does. Still, it really scared me and I wasn't convinced it was her. I think these paranoid thoughts were the result of my husband telling me the hotel was haunted. He was joking, but I'm a huge wuss when it comes to things like that. I finally fell asleep around 6:00. Then at 6:30 Natalie woke up screaming. It was definitely a gasy belly. There really wasn't much I could do. I thought changing her diaper would help comfort her but when I took it off she started to pee. It got all over before I could get a new one down. She was wide awake after that but Matt eventually rocked her to sleep in her car seat then she slept til about ten. 

In the morning we went back to natural bridge for a last look. After that we drove 20 minutes down the road to a safari park. There we paid admission and bought buckets of food for the animals. Then drove through the park with tons of animals to feed, including but not limited to: deer, elk, emu, ostrich, buffalo, zebra, and camels. It was incredible. After we did that we went and hand fed a giraffe. If I'd known this place existed sooner we could have saved a lot of money on our trip to Florida a couple years ago.

 It was a really crazy, overwhelming but a fun and special trip. I'm so glad we got to experience all we did. I know we'll be back.

Matt and Natalie in front of our hotel

Freshly hatched butterflies

The exhibit was pretty much nothing but creepy ass dolls

It was dark inside and my flash was broken but you really aren't missing out on much with these pictures.

Natural Bridge

I really don't know how to pose without holding a baby.

Family shot

Keeping E.T. baby dry from the rain.

Check out those different colored eyes

We're in this pic somewhere!

All the animals attacking one family

Mean camels

Camels spilled that all over me then ate it outta my lap

The animals weren't the only hungry ones

Bye, bye wonderful time.