Alligators, Goats & Snakes

It was a beautiful day out. I did not want to be stuck inside. We went for a walk around one of our outdoor malls. While there the children noticed that there was a creature had parked itself by out car. It was a 4ft alligator getting some sun. After that we decided to go a local farm. I wanted to check out their produce market. On the way to the farm we saw a "U Pick Grape" sign. Dh pulled a U turn and we ended up picking some grapes, $5 for a small basket. We were done in 5 minutes. LOL. We are going to try and make jelly out of some of them. Dh wanted to do this as an experiment. If they turn out well they will be Christmas gifts.

Once we got to the farm we went into the market and saw a ton of tomatoes. If I had the space or the materials to process them I would of bought them. There must of been ten pounds of big tomatoes for $6 and a bushel of baby romas for $13. Unfortunately, I do not have the space. After we picked up some goodies we went for a walk around the farm. We had fun walking around looking at the animals. I thought that I took a picture of a goat trying to eat from the feed machine. It was rather funny he just climbed the fence and was putting his tongue inside trying to get treats. We also met "Pooper". His real name was Humphrey, but my kids renamed him. He followed us around everywhere. The first time that he came up to us he came right up to me and put his head in my pocket. I jumped the first time. The kids thought that it was the funniest thing that they had ever seen. I would move away and sure enough he would follow me. It was rather cute. We also saw about 6 of the world's cutest piglets. They were precious. Squirrel went running to try and see them & was surprised when they took off. She thought that they were very fast. They were also very clever. I had a lot of fun watching them run around. They would approach us and then take off.

We also had an amazing opportunity to observe a turkey hen defending her nest. The nest was in a stall and a hen(chicken) and her chicks entered it. The mama turkey did not like this at all. When the chicken would get close to the turkey nest the hen would defend the nest. The kids watched for a little bit and thought that it was neat.

The funniest thing happened about 10 minutes later. Dragon wondered where the peacocks had gone to. We found then and started walking to their pens when all of the sudden Dragon let out the biggest scream that I have ever heard in my entire life. He went running with tears running down his face. I was wondering what was going on and then I noticed the 3 or 4ft grass snake that was coming fast. I scream and jump back then just start laughing my a$$ off. I found it extremely funny. I was trying to comfort him while not splitting a gut. Tracker and Squirrel came running and to see what happened. I am seriously surprised that a farm employee did not come out to make sure that everyone was ok. However, Dragon and I both started to laugh when we saw that Pooper had come hurrying to make sure we were ok. He went right to my hip. He stayed there until we started to move again, and of course he followed us.

It was a great day. We had some laughs, thrills and some more laughs. The entire way home the kids just kept saying that it was the best day.

Riverbanks Zoo 2

Here are some more of the animals that we saw while at the zoo.

We also stopped by Riverbanks Farm where the kids found a friendly bunny that they wanted to take home.

Tracker & Squirrel tried their hands at milking a cow.

This goat just wanted to be everyone's friend.

You can see more of our trip here:
Riverbanks Zoo 1
Riverbanks Zoo 3-Snakes
Riverbanks Zoo 4-Penguins

I'm Back!!!!!!!!!

I did not mean to completely fall off the face of the Earth. I have had a somewhat relaxing month. We have been taking it easy and just living life. We have done swim lessons, book clubs, playground days, went to the zoo, had a birthday and even went out of town.

I have ton of pictures to share. We have zoo pictures(even more of those), pictures from the farm, and pictures from an AMAZING adventure where I got to pet these.

Things will still be a little crazy for the next 2 weeks. I plan on putting dh to work while he is off for the next 2 weeks. I am going to have him help declutter our room and the kitchen. He is more ruthless than me when it comes to tossing stuff. I am also hoping to tear my garden up and fix it for next year. The kids are starting their Jr. Park Ranger Badge activities on Monday. They test out of swimming tomorrow. I am hoping that they will move up, but I am not sure. Tracker freaks out in the water. He needs to calm down. We are also considering going camping the last week of the month. We just haven't decided if we want to miss swim lessons. We will see. I promise to post more soon.