Family Vacations- or How Joseph got Punched by a Kangaroo

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but life, author interviews, and other writing have gotten in the way! Anyhoo..

February, right on the heals of EVERYBODY's birthdays we took the kids on their first trip to Florida. We stayed with my parents, ate lots of food, did lots of shwiming (as Hailey puts it), and Joseph got punched in the face by a kangaroo. Yup. That actually happened. We went to FLORIDA of all places and my kid got punched in the face by a real live red kangaroo. Let's look at the offending species:

Now how did this happen? Well we went to this lovely place called Jungle Island. (That 'lovely' comment was not sarcasm. Seriously, it's the perfect sized zoo-like park for a bunch of toddlers.) While there, we noticed that they had a petting zoo full of red kangaroos. I thought that that would be fun for the kids. They love animals, and this way they could feed and pet something a little different then the standard goats that you'd usually see. (Sidebar- the goats freak them out! They keep trying to eat their hats, and any paper they carry in their pockets: Gone.) So we paid our extra $5.00 and went inside. The kids got handfuls of grapes and kangaroo pellets and went to pet them, with Brian and I watching carefully. Joseph looks at them and yells: "They look like Sebastian!" Sebastian is our dog. He is 85 lbs of patience and love when it comes to the kids. See:

He knows they don't bite, and if he gets annoyed he stands up and walks away. Well, Joseph runs for the nearest kangaroo, and I chase after. He reaches for it's ear squealing with joy, and it jumps up, spins, and lashes out with fists of fury. Joseph falls on his butt, and his brother Phillip bursts out laughing that the kangaroo hit his brother. Joseph seemed okay, and went off to continue feeding and petting the other animals, albeit a bit more tentatively.

A while later, I sat with him in a bird show and asked what had happened. His response: "Kangaroo try to hug Joseph. Didn't do a good job." Yeah....

Their other discovery that day: Dinosaurs are real and alive. This is proven by this thing they saw:

6 foot tall bird monster known as a cassowary. The kids thought it was awesome, and I was a horrible parent for not letting them rush the stage so they could pet it.

The trip was a lot of fun, and as the triplets grow and mature, we can definitely do more things with them. I can't wait for the next one!