Birthday Pool Party

Our beautiful 20 year old birthday girl

 

with her best friend and sister Ashley

After given a gift and a choice as to what to do for her birthday, Mandy chose a nearby resort called the Banana Bank Lodge to visit. They charge a $10 per adult day use fee for full access to their pool and mini zoo, children half price.. Being 'locals' we were quoted half of that! Anyhow, it made for a pretty fun (and affordable) birth-day for Mandy!

 

Birthday Girl!

 

 

 

Between dips in the pool dad treated the girls to some nachos at the little pool-side café..

Then it was on to seeing the different animals, mostly birds, that Banana Bank lodge has in captivity. This umbrella cockatoo had the girls mesmerized. One of the daughters of the workers there at the resort showed the girls around the bird pavilion.

In another enclosure (one that was much larger) housed larger birds including this absolutely stunning peacock.

This poor tucan had a twisted beak

Banana Bank Lodge is situated on a 4,000 acre piece of land. Horses roam free around the place. They are all trained for horseback riding via the John Lyons and Perrelli way and so are very tame.

This caged jaguar wanted to grab Ashley through the bars. It was kinda scary! We all agreed that she needed a MUCH higher fence!

The Banana Bank Lodge offers their guests (whether day-use or overnight) very affordable meals. In addition, upon request they can make meals with specialty ingredients..We opted to have dinner there and had told them that we were gluten intolerant. On the menu that night was lasagna but for us ladies they had made corn empanadas served with condiments instead.

Daddy hugs the birthday girl

Mama hugs the semi-unruly and tired out little girls :-)

Grant enjoys a hot cup of coffee

Ashley too!

Our yummy empanadas

For dessert, instead of chocolate cake which was the dessert on the menu for the evening.. the waitress asked us if we would like cantaloupe instead. She proceeded to bring Ashley and Amanda a big bottle of chocolate syrup to make it even more of a treat! The girls had WAY too much fun decorating their cantaloupe with chocolate. :-)

 

We had never *thought* of putting chocolate on cantaloupe but you know what? It was ALMOST as delicious as chocolate cake, maybe even more so! We enjoyed and appreciated the staff there soo much! Such wonderful young ladies. We were blessed to chat with them a few times throughout the day.

After dinner the boys talked us into one more dip in the pool.. it was still warm, both the pool water and the outdoor temperature. A dip sure felt nice after a hot day..

 

 

Daddy elected to read instead..

Like daddy like daughters..

 

A sweet ending to a lovely day. Happy Birthday Amanda dear! We love you so much honey!!!!

 A big thank you to the person who gifted our family this special gift.. (you know who you are!) It is such a blessing to have had a day of R and R as a family. Hugs!