Hunter's Dream Day...

Hunter was hot at the starting gate just busting to get in there and start exploring!

What could be more exciting to an animal-loving, train-crazy, incredibly social 2 year old boy than a day at an adventure theme park?!? Apparently, not much...
The fun started on Friday night when "Uncle" Richard and "Auntie" Marlin spent the night at our place so we could all wake up bright and early on Saturday for our big day out. Leo Foo Village is an amusement/theme park about an hour's drive west from Taipei and it contained pretty much all of Hunter's favorites:

TRAINS & ANIMALS

We started in the African themed area which contains all the animals... this is where Hunter got to combine his two current loves - Trains & Animals!


We boarded the Narobi Express and meandered our way along the tracks looking at all sorts of wildlife - hippos, rhinos, ostriches, bison, deer, giraffes - it was really cool... the animals were all sort of just roaming around (at a safe distance, of course).

But with about 2 minutes left in the ride, the train broke down! It broke down to the point where all the passengers had to disembark and walk the rest of the way! What an exciting experience!!!



"Huo che, huai diu le!" - Hunter kept repeating this sentence the rest of the day (and into this week) - "The train broke!"

So we walked past the giraffes who really had no idea why these crazy 2-legged creatures were wandering so closely!

Here were the bison we rode past...

and the rhinos...

After our big adventure with the train, we were still game to take the safari bus ride to the "carnivorous animals"... this was super cool!! The bus, thankfully, was healthy and drove us past all sorts of exciting animals. Hunter was so excited just watching through the windows...

oh wait, the flamingos weren't in the carnivorous section... but they looked pretty cool!

After the big game ride, we had a lunch break and after watching a few others ride the real camel, Hunter decided this was all he could handle this time around.

FRIENDS

Throughout the day Hunter was making friends with all sorts...

Precious Helena was having a great time, too, but she did manage a bit of a nap!

Hunter made friends with the animals in the petting zoo where he got to feed goats and horses... sometimes using supplies that the other tourists had purchased - it's a good thing Taiwanese people are so loving of children!

At first he was a bit timid, but baba helped ease him into it...

and in no time at all, Hunter had the animals eating out of his hands!

FOOD

Speaking of eating...

we did our fair share... Hunter's got the crumbs to prove his approval for Ivy & Wayne's engagement cookies...

the Turkish ice cream vendor knew a good thing when he saw it and played the crowd off this little boy who stood there laughing over the sellers antics - so he gave Hunter a freebie, which brought more antics, which then attracted paying customers... we could work out some kind of deal here, eh?

Even Helena got her first taste of the 'forbidden' fruit as such... she loved it!


RIDES

Leo Foo Village is an amusement park, afterall, so we did our share of riding on the rides...

While Hunter & Marlin were slowly going round the wheel, Tony and I were spinning in the barrels (like teacups) - but good thing it was our last ride of the day - he spun it so fast we couldn't lift our heads or arms... everything was spinning after that one!

We took the 'log ride' - and they were not joking when they said you'd get wet!

Hunter hopped into the car with some other unsuspecting kids - thankfully there was space available and again, thankfully Taiwanese people are pretty generous.

Helena got a great ride too... though hers was a bit more familiar!

Tony & Richard had a go on the log ride too... they didn't get quite as wet as we did, though I must add that it did rain while Marlin & I were on it!

So that was it... our first time to Leo Foo Village - but not our last - we bought a season pass good for the next three months... so you'll see us here again!!!