We waited for a few minutes and then the tour began.  The first animals that we got to see were a family of ring tailed lemurs.  They were really cute and could jump from the ground to the tour guide’s shoulder so fluidly it was really amazing.  We also saw some special breeds of pheasant that they had.  Next it was the big item, kangaroos!  They had the kangaroos in an enclosed area and gave us each a little bread so that we could feed them.  They ate right out of our hands and were surprisingly friendly.  I always thought kangaroos were sort of mean, but these ones were pretty docile.  We even saw some mommys with little joeys in their pouch and we got to pet them and feed them too.  They also had rabbits and tortoises thrown into the mix.  The wallabies also shared the same enclosure as the kangaroos.  I never really knew what a wallaby was until I saw them.  They’re just like kangaroos, but more furry and chubbier looking. They also had these really strange animals in there, I never really got the full name something like Patagonian Capris or something, but I dubbed them guinea deers because they look like guinea pigs with little deer legs, so weird!  After the kangaroos they took us to see and feed a ton of other animals.  They had mules, donkeys, more chickens and goats in one area and we fed them these alfalfa pellets.  Then we headed over and saw this miniature horse, which I guess is different from a pony.  We also got to see an ostrich and two emus, but they didn’t let us feed them (probably because they’d peck our eyes out or something).  The last animals we got to feed were some alpaca llamas.  They were pretty gentle and the tour guide coaxed some of us to feed them from our mouths.  I tried it…wasn’t the best experience of my life, but I escaped unscathed.   When we went back to the starting point of the tour we all got to hold a baby joey and take pictures with it.  It was really neat and he was soooo cute.

After we were finished at the farm Jon took me to Outback Steak House just to complete the Aussie theme of my birthday.  We both had really good meals and I even got a free ice cream treat.

I’d say overall it was a grand adventure and a really fun birthday!  Too bad birthdays only come once a year

We got breakfast at Maltby Cafe first then headed to the club and got there about 15 minutes before it opened.  The line went all around the building, apparently curling is really popular during the Winter Olympics.  It took about an hour for us to even get in, but they had snacks and we were able to watch the other groups curl.  Once it was our turn they gave us each one rubber gripper to go over your throwing side shoe.  It helps you stop yourself from slipping on the ice.  The curling ice is bumpy unlike skating ice so it’s a bit less slick.  First we learned how to release the rock, you sort of squat down then push back with your gripper foot then push yourself forward.  Then we learned the sweeping part, which I actually thought was harder.  We ended up playing a game, but had a hard time getting the rocks to even make it to the house.  Our team didn’t do so well, but the rock that I release was one of three that made it in and scored a point, so horray, maybe I can be an Olympic curler. 

After curling we went to the Experience the Music Project and the Science Fiction Museum with our friend.  We liked the Sci-Fi part better, but we were able to take this really cool band picture at the EMP.  We were still in our sweat pants from curling so it’s not so convincing…over all it was a fun outting.

The beginning of our trip wasn’t very smooth.  We headed out of Redmond a tad bit late and on the way Jon was stopped and we got a speeding ticket   It was a big trick, there was one cop radaring people and then about 10 cops lined up behind her just pulling people over.  After that we were really late so we didn’t have time to park our car before the ferry left, we drove the car on and it cost $90!  Rip off!  Everything with the trip went smoothly after that though. 

A couple weeks ago we had some visitors from Provo!  We had a really good time while they were here!  The first day that they were here we saw all the down town sites.  Checked out Pikes Place, Seattle Center etc.  Then in the evening we hit a Mariners vs Red Sox game!  It was the first time Jon and I went to a ball park together and the game was really good!  Our friend got us really good seats so that made the game even better!  The weather was great and we had a great time.

The next day we headed to the Woodland Park Zoo.  They just opened a new penguin exhibit this summer, so we went to check them out.  It’s been a while since we’ve been to the zoo.  It was nice seeing the animals out and about and enjoying the sun.

Thanks for visiting us, visitors!  We had a fun time!

After brunch we headed to the Seattle Cherry Blossom festival.  They had some boothes set up at the Seattle Center talking about Japanese culture etc and they even had a judo demo going on while I was there.  We saw this really cook fountain that they have at the Seattle Center and the weather was warm enough to have kids playing in the water etc.  It was a lot of fun.  No doubt that fountain is a hot spot in the summer.

In the afternoon we hit the star attraction to our day.  Jon found out that there is a chocolate factory in Seattle.  It’s called Theo’s Chocolate and they make organic, fair trade chocolate and are one of 3 major chocolate maker’s in the US.  I didn’t know it, but lots of those other companies that we think of when we think of are only chocolate melters, meaning they buy chocolate from a maker, melt it down and stick some marshmellow goodness in the middle then slap their name on it.  Chocolate makers are the ones who get the cocoa beans, roast them, grind them and make the chocolate that everyone else uses.  It was a pretty good tour and it was cool seeing all the machines, but the best part of the tour was the FREE SAMPLES!  They let you sample as much as you’d like at the factory and store!  Theo’s is known for their original flavors and our favorite was the thai curry chocolate!  They also have things like bread crumb chocolate (they butter bagettes and toast them then shred them into crumbs and put them in the chocolate), fig and fennel chocolate and chipotle chocolates.  They also make these origin bars that have chocolate from different countries, meaning the cocoa beans are from only one place whereas most chocolate is mixed together by other manufacturers.  It was sort of neat seeing the difference between the different chocolates.  You can get Theo’s chocolate in most Whole Foods stores and other health stores.  It was really really fun!  I had a really fun day!  

We headed over to Red Robin for dinner where there were all these cops waiting outside.  Like 3 cop cars and we thought something bad was going down, but they were actually there for a charity event.  Very funny.  

Thanks, Jon-oh for a really good birthday!  I loved it!