A trip to the alligator farm

Today the girls and I went on a little adventure.

To Alligator Alley!

While purchasing our tickets, this little guy was running loose.  He jumped on Grace's shoulder and then took off.  Isn't he darling?  He's only 9 weeks old.  The girl behind the counter told us that he fell from a tree and his mother abandoned him, so she adopted him.  Now Grace wants a pet squirrel.

Next, we bought gator chow and headed out to feed the gators.

I couldn't resist the mini man eaters...they're Grace's age!

We walked along the boardwalk.

And feed a few of the gators.  Since there are over 200, we didn't come close to feeding them all.

Captain Crunch was pretty interesting.

Even Faith enjoyed tossing some chow out.

It didn't take us long to run out of food.

So we decided to walk around the park some more.

It was quite warm, but mostly shady.

When I asked who wanted to see the baby alligators, they both raised an arm and said, "I do!"

Aren't the little hatchlings so cute?

Then it was time for the gator feeding.

This is Wes.  He's the owner of Alligator Alley and I think he's Alabama's version of Steve Irwin.

All those alligators came running as soon as he crossed over the fence.

They knew it was feeding time.  Feeding time is every day at 11:00, 1:00 and 4:00.  It was an amazing thing to watch.

Then they brought a 2 year old gator out for us to touch and hold.  At first Grace announced, "My momma says I can't touch the alligators."  But after a few minutes she looked at me and asked so sweetly, "Momma, is it okay that I touch the little alligator."

She was so brave as she held it and took it over to show Faith.

Next my girls will be wanted a pet alligator...