Feeding the Ducks

With my ankle not doing too well, I've felt like we haven't done much of anything over the past week. It feels like an eternity, but it's only been eight days ago now. We went to church on Sunday and invited our friends the Cintron's out to dinner with us that evening, but since that day the boys & I have just been home. I've taken them to play out in the front driveway with their cars, bikes & sidewalk chalk and we've played in the backyard some. We've done lots of reading and playing with Joshua's new Leapster2 games (thanks, Grandma!). And I've started working with Caleb on potty training which has NOT gone well so far (having a hard time remembering now how we even started with Joshua... Caleb doesn't seem to mind being wet at ALL). All that said, I wanted to get out. I knew Shawn & I were planning a date night tonight, but with the gorgeous weather, I called Grandpa to see if he'd want to join us to go to the little petting zoo in Leola. He said sure.

Even though we hadn't been there since last year at this time, the moment we got out of the car, Joshua said "Hey, let's feed the ducks!" That's his favorite part of Hayloft Candles. So, we went straight to that area. I brought my little change purse full of quarters and Grandpa was kind enough to get the food out while I snapped the pictures. When he handed a fist full to Joshua, the Bean carefully through each piece one by one to the ducks and watched where it went. Then Grandpa gave a couple pieces to Caleb - who promptly put them in his mouth!!! YUCK!!!! We showed him that this was food for the animals, not for the kids. But, I realized that we should have been more clear the first time round. Thereafter, he fed the animals just fine without sticking any more in his mouth.

Joshua LOVED feeding the ducks and could have stayed there all day, I think. The weather today is simply gorgeous. It's sunny but breezy and no humidity. It is amazing - thank you, God!

After feeding the ducks for awhile, we moved on to look at the other animals. Caleb said hello to the 'dinky' deer... only this one's name was Daisy, not Dinky.

The boys said hello to the Yak, who told them not to talk back. Actually, this big fellow was hoping that they had brought some food for him, by looks. That said, he was a little big for their taste. They enjoyed the birds more than the big creatures, I think.

Caleb was intrigued by 'Tom' turkey. Gobble gobble gobble!

Then we continued to walk around the pond. Truthfully, the boys started to run and Grandpa & I hobbled as best we could. Both Joshua & I tripped on a plank that was sticking straight up. I grimaced in pain. At that moment, I wondered why I had left the comfort of our home. I'm still a little nauseous from it. But, it was a nice experience other than that little slip up. Here's Grandpa & the boys looking at the ducks on the other side of the pond.

And I made the boys stop to get a quick picture or two of them. They're sporting their new haircuts. And Joshua picked out his entire outfit today and put it on all by himself. He's getting to be such a big boy!

Caleb's expression in the above photo just says "please no more pictures," doesn't it? My little Bluke would rather keep exploring. In the picture below, he's saying hello to the bunnies in the cages.

Then we fed the goats. Joshua laughed and laughed and laughed here as the goats licked his hands. (I sanitized them and then washed them good when we left there, but they had fun.)

Just look at Joshua's expression in the above picture as well as the one below. He thought this was hysterical.

Caleb also fed the goats and enjoyed them eating out of his hands.

We had a fun morning out. When we left there, Grandpa offered to buy pizza for us & Jen's family if I was willing to drive to pick it up. I said sure, so we went to the pizza shop and then to Aunt Jen's house where we ate outside on her patio. Then the kids played more on her slide and in her backyard before we came home for naps. Both boys went right to sleep when we got home.

Here are more pictures from the morning's outing. The two below are the boys feeding the deer.

And here's Joshua feeding the pig. I thought this little creature was cool! Both boys enjoyed feeding her.

And there were baby ducks when we went back to feed them before leaving (since that was Joshua's favorite part, he said):

Thanks for a fun morning out, Grandpa Georgia!

Tonight Shawn & I are going on a date while Dad comes back to watch the boys. I better go rest my ankle until then. Enjoy the pictures!