Beautiful Fall Day at the Zoo

My cousin Trisha was in town for a conference so she was nice enough to join the kiddos and I at the zoo.  It was a beautiful day and we got to see a lot of animals and enjoy some gorgeous fall weather.  We started the day off by catching the last 1/2 of the bird show.  The kiddos both got to hand a dollar to the raven in support of bird conservation.  We then headed over to see the monkeys, tigers, koalas and other animals along that path.  The tiger was making some vocalizitions, half roar half chuff (I learned that from Wild Kratts) and the kiddos didn’t like it one bit so we got out of there.We also got to check out the creepy crawlies in the bug room.  There are a lot of bugs in Texas and some of them are not good…so I took the opportunity to study the bad poisonous bugs for our own safety.  Like most kiddos Thomas and Elin love bugs but I am so afraid of the ones that can hurt them so I have had a in general “No touching Texas bugs” policy with them.  It is working about 50% of the time. 

Then we headed to the elephants and giraffes stopping to grab lunch.  The kiddos love feeding the giraffes and it is honestly one of the coolest things I have experienced as well.   William woke up when we sat down for lunch, had his lunch, and then was ready to do the zoo!  He looked around at all the animals and even got up close and personal with a giraffe…what a lucky 3 month old!

We took a break to let the kiddos legs rest and get a few pictures and then we were on for a long trek back to see the cheetah experience.  One of the favorite episodes of Wild Kratts is the on on cheetahs, so I thought the cheetah experience would be cool for them to see…and I wanted to see it too.  The cheetah and his black lab “brother” are about a year old and it is one of handful of cheetah/dog pairings in zoos.  They do it as to help the cheetah’s become ambassadors for the other cheetahs in the wild as the labs help show the cheetah that being around people is ok.  We watched them and listened to their story for a bit before Elin and William got too tired and we needed to sneak away.  Then it was time for the dreaded ride home…dreaded because William refuses to enjoy his car rides…big boo!  We made it home in one piece after several stops to calm him down.  The positive was that both Thomas and Elin got naps in after a big zoo adventure! 

Storybrook Ranch, Fire Safety Town and a birthday Celebration…a very busy Tuesday!

We started out the day with our adventure at Storybrook Ranch.  We did this last year just after moving to Texas and wanted to check it out again.  The kiddos again had a blast playing in the bounce houses and running through the hay maze. Elin loved spending time with the ponies.  She wasn’t afraid of them at all and she was eager to ride on one.  Trying to teach her to be careful around them was a huge task and thankfully these ponies were very well mannered.  She’s such a fearless little thing!  After the kids got their fill of the ponies and animals we hopped on a wagon ride and headed back to the 1800s.  The ranch’s historic “dry bones town” has buildings from all over that they hand picked and had delivered to the town to preserve them.  In our quick tour we stopped into the jail house, the doctors office, the barber shop, the black smiths shed and the fire station.  There was so much more to see and explore  but time ran out!   We found a live praying mantis on the blacksmiths workbench.  It was so cool and very neat to see in the “wild.”  I hope to someday have one of these critters in my garden!After we were at the town we stopped back at the pumpkin patch for a few pictures and then headed out.  We got a decent picture of the kiddos and I still can’t believe I have 3 kiddos when I look at the picture of myself with them, crazy and amazing all at the same time!

After a quick hour at home and a recharge and refill of our waters we were headed up to Fire Safety Town for Grahm’s birthday.  The little boys were pretty excited and I was very proud of how well Thomas listened and answered the questions.  He was so eager to learn and tell the fire fighter what he knew about fire safety.  Elin did a pretty good job for not having a nap and paid attention as well as an over tired 2 year old could!  She loved driving the big fire truck at the end of the tour.    After we finished the tour we headed over to a park for cupcakes and some playtime to finish off Grahm’s birthday celebration.

It was a busy and extremely fun day!  On our way home I risked a complete melt down and took the 3 kids out to dinner.  Elin wasn’t going to make it home in the car awake and we were just about to the time when if she goes to sleep she could sleep til the next morning…so we stopped in and grabbed a quick bite successfully before heading home.  As expected Elin fell asleep at 6 in the car and slept til the next morning at 7:30, it was a busy day!! 

Dallas Farmers Market

We had yet to try the farmers market in downtown Dallas.   It was suppose to be a cooler morning in the 80s so we headed down before it got too hot and we all melted!  The farmers market had a lot of fresh produce, the only bummer was that most of it was conventionally farmed.  One thing I love about farmers markets is that most of the stuff is locally produced, however I noticed that some of the stuff that was at this market was not.   There were however a lot of locally produced, free range and natural and organic meats to offer, so that was fun see.  We got a few steaks and some brats to try out and we really liked the meat, so that was a win all around.  Then we noticed the petting area and the “farm animals” and Elin and Thomas were excited to go see them.  They both are so into animals, and loved petting and holding the rabbits, chickens, goats, and guinea pigs.  After taking in the foods, music, animals and getting lots of fresh fruit samples we headed home for lunch…however William decided he wanted to eat and didn’t want to ride in his car seat and Elin had to go potty….so we made a stop for lunch and tested out dining with 3 littles in tow, thankfully it wasn’t a disaster! 

We then headed home with our fresh foods and meats to cook dinner and get some stuff done around the house! Thomas and I decided we would use the huge boxes we had got in our monthly Amazon shipment (Amazon packs some large boxes into an even larger box I don’t order tat much) to build a big fort…it was 2 hours of constructing for a 4 and 2 year olds, 5 minute attention span.  Guess it was a bust, but it was fun to create it with him and Elin’s help too.  A little later that night Thomas was so excited when he found a gecko in his sandbox, the little things are so stinkin’ cute!   It was a great start to our Labor Day Weekend!

Forth Worth Zoo

For awhile we have been hearing that the Fort Worth Zoo is “much better than the Dallas Zoo” so the kiddos decided to go an see for ourselves.  We got up and were out the door at 9 a.m. as we had an hour drive and knew that it was going to be in the low 90s mid day.  Once we arrived at the zoo we slathered on the sun screen, loaded up the double stroller, and headed into the zoo. We were quickly surprised by all the flamingos sitting on very tall nests with eggs under them.  You can see in the picture that the kiddos are still dressing themselves and Elin has quite the outfit on.  We then went over and saw the reptile/amphibian exhibits.  There was a huge huge huge saltwater crocodile.  He or she was 22 feet long and weighed 2 tons.  It was easy to see how these crocodiles are able to take down some of the big game in Africa.We continued on our adventure finding different animals at every turn.  For most of the day I had my phone or camera for the day away.  We got to see a lot of animals, have lunch, watch an animal encounter show and then we loaded up to head home about 1:30.  It was a great morning at the zoo and the kiddos both were asking to go back as soon as we left.  Thomas said his favorite animal was the black rhino, Elin said the Elephant and Crocodile, I will say seeing the year old baby Elephants was a highlight for me.  So after a final review I will say that I don’t think that the Fort Worth Zoo is better/worse than the Dallas Zoo.  They both have their own unique feel and different animals for everyone to see. 

Bunnies…

The baby bunnies grew up quickly and are already out of the garden box hopefully living in the neighborhood somewhere!  Over the weekend we figured that at 2 weeks old they were close to starting to move around, from all the reading I had done, and we used some spare boards we had in the garage to corral them under the corn in the garden box.  I like bunnies and all, but I still didn’t want to loose all my veggies to the little guys or girls! 

On Tuesday morning I went out to check on them, a morning occurrence for the last 2 weeks and saw they had a “bunny hole” in their nest and they were out and about.  That afternoon I noticed 1 of the bunnies was out of the box and “hiding” in the grass.  I picked it up, put it back in and thought that it was a fluke.  I was wrong, they were starting to hop out and were ready to be on their own.  Their mama was still coming back at night to feed them and check in and so there they were out of the box.   For the next few days they hung around close to the house and we saw them near our garden boxes.  By Friday we were only seeing 2 consistently and by Monday they were off and on their next adventure (we hope)!  Fun to see/watch them grow up and now wonder when we see little buns if they were “our garden babies.”

This is how they “hid” in the grass.  You had to be so careful as they didn’t move and you could almost step on them. 

Morning at the Dallas Zoo

We spent the morning at the Dallas Zoo exploring the Children’s Area and seeing some of the other exhibits that we had never visited before.  The kiddos absolutely loved the children’s area and feeding the birds, goats and Thomas rode on the pony.  Much to my surprise, Elin, even in her cowgirl boots, decided not to ride the pony!  They both have a huge love for animals and could spend hours exploring and learning at the zoo.  Once we were done in the Children’s portion of the zoo we headed to see the monkeys, tigers, kangaroos, koalas, and a few other animals.  We then rode the train and grabbed lunch before seeing the Galapagos Tortoises and some of the birds of prey they had on exhibit.   By then the kiddos were tired and were ready to head home so off we went!  

A Super Fantastic Day at the Critter Farm

Oh my goodness did we have a fun day at the farm.  We loaded up about 9:30 so we could be there on time for the piggy feeding.  We thought we were going to see some baby pigs be fed, we had no clue we were going to be able to be the ones to feed them.  Absolutely amazing, these little piggies were so tiny and adorable!

After we got our 1st fill of these little loves we headed over to help bottle feed the baby goats.  They have a large goat herd with babies and then they have this crew who is bottle fed, either because the mamas had too many babies or the babies were not being taken care of.  Either way it was a great experience for the kiddos and I even fed a baby or two.  So much fun and they sure drank the bottles quick.  

Then it was time to move onto the birds; chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and peacocks to be exact.  The birds weren’t as people friendly but they did like to have the chicken feed.  Elin then wanted to go back to the baby piggies and the other kids played in a little park and hay bale area.  There was also a very friendly horse that kept coming over wanting treats, but he wasn’t their horse so we didn’t want to feed it and have it get sick.

Then we went onto the larger animals they had Llamas, Alpachas, donkeys, sheep, pigs, goats, a few cows, horses and ponies that the kids could feed.  Again these animals were all so friendly and it was so much fun to feed them and watch the kiddos get to interact with them.  Once Elin started to eat the animal feed and cried so hard when I took it from her, her Mama finally realized she and the other kiddos were probably hungry and ready for lunch.  It was 12:30 already and in what felt like a blink we had been at the farm for 2.5 hours.  We went and grabbed our picnic lunch in the back of our friends SUV and the kiddos were instantly recharged.  The kids then enjoyed the open farm feel and got a “hike and exercise in.”

After lunch we walked back to the farm and the kiddos got to pet and hold the bunnies and baby chickens.  Thomas was in his element.  He was helping hold the animals and showing his sister and the other kiddos.  Then it was time for the next most amazing thing, as you can tell there were a lot of wonderful experiences on the farm!  We got to go in and feed Kangaroos, a Wallaby, Emus and some pot bellied pigs.  The kangaroos were so chill and docile.  I don’t know how many times we will have the opportunity to pet and feed a kangaroo, but these boys were so soft and lovely.  Very cool experience for all of us.

We were not quite done with the kangaroos, but a preschool/daycare with about 50 kids showed up and we were out of there as fast as we could go.  That is just too many kids with ours in the mix of chaos.  The kids then wanted a second turn with feeding the pigs before we left.  What a wonderful day at the farm, seriously this place is one of a kind and was so so wonderful. 

Busy Weekend with Uncle Don and Auntie Katie

Mike’s sister and her husband came for a visit before Katie had to attend some work meetings in Dallas.  They came in Thursday night late and Friday morning we were up and hitting the ground running.  Mike had to work so Friday morning the kids and I took them over to Fort Worth.When we got to the Stockyards we went into the petting farm area.  The kids were able to feed a bunch of different farm and exotic animals.  Then we went over to watch the long horns and the “cattle drive.”  When the cows were done Elin had a tiny meltdown complete with flopping over onto the sidewalk, crocodile tears and a very unhappy little girl.  The cows being all done was a little too much for her to handle!  Thankfully there were other things to distract her and after riding a few mechanical horses both she and Thomas were happy little “cowkids.”  We then grabbed lunch before heading back to the homestead.  Once home we regrouped, took a walk to the park and then met Mike for some Tex-Mex for dinner.  Saturday started off gloomy and a bit chilly, by Texas standards, so we decided an indoor activity would be best.  We headed to the George W. Bush Library and Museum to check it out.  The history in that place was from a presidency we adults big kids remember.  It was a nice library/museum and a few of the historic highlights for me was seeing some of the iron beams from the Twin Towers, the replicated Oval Office, the declassified paper that allowed the start of the war in Afghanistan and the Hurricane Katrina disaster. I am sure this is all because I can remember so vividly when all of these moments in history happened.  Walking into the 9/11 area was emotionally overwhelming.  The thousands of names of the lives that were lost on that day, the number of lives changed in an instant, and a country/world that would never be the same again, so humbling and overwhelming.  It took my breath away and had me blinking back tears as Mike and I tried to explain it in as simple of terms as possible to Thomas.  A day that a almost 4 year old, two thirty something year old, cannot even attempt to fully understand.  After moving through the 9/11 portion of the museum we waited in a long line to enter the replica of the Oval Office.  After seeing that we strolled through the rest of the museum before heading back home. Saturday night we went to Medieval Times and surprisingly all most of us had a pretty good time.  The kiddos loved it, Elin loved the horses and was clapping and cheering everytime they came out.  Thomas was quiet and watched intently wondering about the knights and if they were ok when they were fighting.  Both of my boys got swords to fight one another with once home.  The food was ok, there was a lot of it and Thomas was a little thrown off by what the server was calling the food.  As he delivered the potato, a dragon egg, the rib-a dragon toe, and the chicken-a falcon, T was like “can we eat this.”  He happily chowed down once I told him it was just pretending and being silly.  As corny as it was, it was a fun experience, and the best part our red knight won!  So at the end he presented a lucky girl in the audience something and when he was walking back to his horse he gave Thomas a “high five!” On Sunday we headed downtown.  We drove by Dealey Plaza so that Don and Katie could see where JFK was assassinated.  We then headed to Klyde Warren Park to explore the “city park” and have lunch at the food trucks.   The park was a little different than we expected but non the less it was a good way to spend a nice day outside.  Sunday night we made dinner at home and relaxed.  Don and Katie were off on Monday morning and it was back to work for Mike and I.  It was a busy, fun, weekend with company in town.