A-freakin Lion Safari!

People think that the youngest child is always the most spoiled. By the time parents have had a few kids they are usually much more lax on things like chores and curfews, so the youngest tends to get away with a lot more than the first child would have!  This is all true, lets face it, being the youngest pretty much rocks. BUT before you start envying (or for that matter continue to envy) the youngest child stop for a moment and consider your childhood. With the first child, parents are excited and want their child to experience all of the 'necessary' parts of childhood. In their need and obsession to have a million pictures of this beautiful new masterpiece that they have created, parents ensure their child doesnt miss out on a single thing! However, what you might not realize, if you arent the youngest, is that by the time parents have had a few kids they dont realize that the last child has missed out on some of these 'necessary' events!

I grew up as the youngest of four and every once and a while there were a few hints that my parents might have forgotten a few steps!
Take my first baseball game for instance. I was put in the outfield and spent most of the game picking dandelions because in t-ball, what are the chances the ball is going to come very close to the outfield? There must have been a huge child (or a child who was taught how to play baseball!) who somehow managed to get the ball into the outfield. My parents yelled, "Brianna, put your glove in the air!"    Ever the obedient child, I raised my glove.. oblivious to the fact that a ball landed a few feet from me. I dont know if I should be embarrassed for myself or my parents that I stood there with my arm up in the air for awhile until I was instructed to get the ball and throw it!  At that point, my parents realized they may have forgotten to tell me what the game of Baseball was all about. 

The youngest child also doesn't remember half of the cool trips that the older siblings do. For years I complained that I had been neglected as a child because I had never been to a zoo. I moaned that a zoo is a necessary part of anyone's childhood. My parents assured me they had taken me, but if I cant remember it, did it really happen? (If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around does it make a sound?)
Finally after years of joking that I had been neglected as a child, my parents took me to the zoo about a month after my 20th birthday! I loved every minute of it, and tried not to notice that we were the oldest people there who didn't have kids!

This week I got to go with my nieces and new baby nephew, as they went through this rite of passage at the African Lion Safari. I watched them as they oooed and awwed over lions and baby calfs and elephants. I felt like a kid again too because I think I liked it just as much as they did.. maybe more!
At African Lion Safari, you have the choice to drive your own car around the safari, or hop on board the bus. The last time my sister went she said she saw the baboons ripping the windshield wipers off of someones car... so we took the bus!

Hannah and Emma when we watched the Elephants take a bath

Super close to a zebra

For a second you believe it until you see the giant fence and trailer in the back!

There is a short boat ride, that takes you to different islands with monkeys and exotic birds.
Pictured above: My brother-in-law Max, my cousin Sarah and her little boy Henry, my nieces Emma and Hannah

Even though the poor guy won't remember it, here is the proof his parents will need that he went to African Lion Safari. This is Carter (8 months) and I on a train.

I think I've always been a bit mature for my age and thinking about it now its probably because I missed out on so many of the necessary parts of a childhood. I blame my parents.. because thats the mature thing to do! :)
-B