Visit to the Ostrich Farm

This past weekend has been insanely busy in the most fun (funnest, if you will) of ways!

James had this past Friday off and suggested on Thursday that we take the kids to the ostrich farm at Picacho Peak.  I will admit that I inwardly groaned on this one.  I had cupcakes to make for the ward Trunk or Treat the following night and still had been managing to procrastinate adding Ms to the kids costumes so needed to find time for that too.  But, since I'm usually the one coming up with random ideas and dragging James along, I thought I would try to be a good and supportive wife and go with him on this one.  Sooo glad I did!

We didn't make it out until about 11 the next morning.  I had gotten the cupcakes baked and bathed all the kids so we were ready to go.  (Normally I wouldn't recommend bathing children before taking them to pet and feed animals, but when their hair is really sticky and they haven't seen the inside of the bathtub for a few days, you do what you have to do.)  Melissa went with us too so I drove and James rode in the back between the twins.  Good thing he's slim enough to fit between two car seats!

We took about 100 pictures each so it's taken a little to narrow it down to these select...uh, several.  =)

The welcome sign.

Hollowed out ostrich eggs.
The sign above them says not to let kids handle them...
unless you want to buy a broken egg to take home.

T-shirt advertising.
I know you're wondering about rainbow feeding...you'll see.

We started off with feeding the deer.  You get a bucket of pellets with each ticket purchased.  Given that under 6 (and over 106) are free and anything in between is $5, we probably got the best deal possible.  We paid for three and got to split with three kids.  Perfect!

Melissa caught these two playing around.

There are  A LOT of deer!

Timmy had fallen asleep on the way and desperately needed a nap so we let him sleep.

Cheers!

I love that Landon will raise cups or anything I ask him too.  The girls sometimes require a bit more incentive.

Next we moved on to feed the goats.

I love watching the kids work together.  They were all totally into feeding the animals.  Callie was the only one who would really pose for me with the goats.

But I love Landon's smile in this one.  You can tell he was laughing.

Group shot.  Or should I say shots?  (I don't think mine turned out as well.)

Ah, young love...

Moving right along to the main attraction...the ostrich.

Who knew these things were so intimidating?  Don't they just look like they're giving you the evil eye?

You would walk up onto a deck to try and feed them.  They have these bins attached to the railing.

Or you can try to just feed them from your cup...

It's a little scary.  Trevy kept laughing that nervous laugh.  No way she would have done it without James right there with her.  What am I saying?  No way I would have done it without James right behind me!  (I never did feed any of the animals with the pellets.  It was more fun for me to watch and take pictures of the kids.)

James pointed out that you can actually watch the pellets going down the animals' throats.  Turns out they don't have any teeth.

 

But they're still a bit scary.

Until you find the maximum distance to stand from which you can still feed the ostrich.  =)

I absolutely love this picture of James and Landon.
There's something so precious about the sheer joy on a child's face in the presence of his dad.

Playing with the close-up feature on the camera.  I would really love to take a photography class.  Wish all my pictures turned out like this!

The ostrich in front of Picacho Peak.

James and Landon with the ostrich.  You can tell that Landon's a little afraid being on the side closest to the ostrich.  They're also pretty big so you can't blame him.

But he did snuggle in closer and give Melissa a smile!

The family picture.  Just missing Timmy.  He was still asleep.  It was very bright and a bit warm.  On the whole, a perfect day for a visit, though!

Random ostrich facts to impress your friends!

Heading toward the little donkeys at Little Donkeytown USA.

They really are pretty small.

This guy cracked me up!  I couldn't get the perfect shot, but notice his teeth.

He kept pulling back his lips.  I commented to Melissa that I thought it was funny and was trying to get a shot of it and Trevy laughed and said, "Look at that smile!"  So funny!

 

Callie the animal lover.

Melissa and Landon finishing off the pellets.


Feeding the rainbows.  Rainbow lorikeets, that is.  Beautiful birds.

Melissa went first.  Still glad they landed on her head and not mine!  We were told that they might peck at ponytails and jewelry.  They really have no sense of personal space!

The kids were in awe.

They tried to get the birds to land on their hands, but the birds need some motivation.

Melissa tried giving Trevy a little nectar...

 And that went well...

Until one of the birds landed on Trevy and she dropped the cup.  =)

Then it was my turn.  Such a weird sensation when they first land on your arm.  Timmy thought it was hilarious.

They make short work of these little cups of nectar.

My sweet little man and me.

This video is a little long, but you get to see Timmy sign "bird" for the first time.  So sweet!

Trevy still trying to get the birds to come to her.  Doesn't she look sweet?  How could they refuse?

I don't know, but they did.  =)

The girls watching the fish.

Finishing off the nectar.  One of them actually tried to bite me!  It didn't hurt.  I think they got the idea that my recently hand-sanitized hand wasn't nearly as tasty as their sugar water!

I can't tell you how much the kids enjoyed this trip!  They got along with each other so well!  They were loopy silly!

Our model poser.

Innocence in a marshmallow shirt.

Timmy kept trying to get to the birds.  I love this shot of his little white head.

The birds got him laughing so hard.

(Mind you, this is not the kind of outfit I normally adorn my children with.  However, since he had just soiled an outfit right before Melissa came over and then she handed him to me, asking if he had a messy diaper not even ten minutes later and, sure enough, he did, I thought this was only fitting.)

Signing "bird".

Callie loves signing too!

 

Such a sweet little handsome!  (Due for another haircut, I think.)

Getting funny with the attitude.

Timmy went both ways trying to catch a bird.

Trevy thought it was funny.

He finally gave up and opted for a spinning session instead!

Melissa was kind enough to let the kids take a few shots with her new Coolpix.

Callie figured it out pretty quickly, discovering how to take pictures of herself even!

We tried to get the kids to pose on the way out.  I wanted them to just poke through their heads through the chain curtain but they were in such a silly mood!

At least the birds cooperated!  Beak sanitation.

Lorikeet info for your next Trivial Pursuit party.

On the way out.  Timmy and the ostrich egg.

 

Funny story about the sunglasses.  I had been missing mine for about a week.  For the life of me could not remember where I had set them down.  The last time I had seen them was the previous Saturday and my eyes had been going crazy walking to preschool during the week and driving without them.  They are so sensitive to light these days.  I had searched and searched and couldn't find them so Melissa offered me this spare pair that she had acquired somewhere.  They are really more for looks than anything so she let me use her polarized pair for driving.  After we got home, she was rummaging through her purse to find her keys and, lo and behold, pulled out my sunglasses!  No idea how they got there, but so happy to have them back!

A very fun day trip.  Not nearly as far as I had thought.  Only about half an hour away.  Plenty of time for cupcakes and letter Ms!