Liberty Park, Tracy Aviary and Memory Lane

My mom joined Emily, Jaxon and I for another day at the park. We love the days she comes to spend with us.
This time we went to Liberty Park.
Our first stop was at Tracy Aviary. I haven't been there in a few years. We used to take the older kids fairly regularly. They have really made a lot of improvements over the years. I was impressed. The kids had a good time checking out all the birds.

 Bald Eagles have been Emily's favorite bird since she was very little.

 I can never remember the name of this bird but it's long straight eyelashes remind me of Lily Belle last time we saw her.

 This peacock followed us around for a little while. I thought it would freak Jaxon out but he didn't seem to mind. Then some little girl started chasing after it and it ran away. Who lets their kid do that?!?! I was so tempted to say something to the girl and/or her mother. But the mother had already attempted to run me over with her stroller in the gift shop on the way in so I had the impression that they really didn't care what anyone else thought. grr!

 Flamingos have always been Crystal's favorite and Emily enjoyed them too.

We were there just in time for the bird show so we sat and watched that and learned a bit about some of the birds.

After the bird show we decided to go grab some lunch. We ended up at Coachman's. I haven't been there in MANY years but it was a pretty popular place to go when I was in high school. Not so much for the food. But the kids knew it would be pretty easy to buy (or have someone else buy for them) cigarettes from these vending machines that are still there.
Vintage!

Of course it's been against the law to sell cigarettes in a vending machine here since the late 80's. Except maybe in bars? I'm not sure.
Anyway, it was funny to see the same old machines selling candy now.
I don't clearly recall the decor of this place back in the mid 80's but it's hard to imagine that it's been updated.

It's kind of charming in its outdatedness though.
After lunch we went back to the park for some playground time.

 Jaxon played in the sand for a little while. He didn't care for the playground equipment much because all the kids were wearing "weird clothes". That is to say that they were in various states of undress and swimwear due to the close proximity of the splash pad.

 After the sand box had lost it's appeal we headed over to the Seven Canyons Fountain where Emily and Jaxon spent a great deal of time sending pine cones and plastic balls down the streams over and over and over while my Mom and I tried to find a shady place to sit. It was getting HOT by then.

We ended the afternoon with an ice cream cone before dropping Nana off at her house and heading home.