Catch-up: A Day With the Animals

A day with the animals, you say?  Isn't that how my day goes every day, you say?  Well. . .maybe.  But this was a lot more fun than an average day.

We have some friends (where we used to live, *sob!*) who own lots of animals and who invited us over to play with them waaaay back in March.  I've been hanging onto these pictures for who knows why, but it is about time to unload.

Ashley was enchanted from the beginning.

I don't think she even noticed anyone around her.  For this girl who wants to be a veterinarian/mountain climber/artist when she grows up, an outdoor play date with a bunch of animals is blissful sunshine and rainbows.

William was excited but felt a little nervous when the baby goats literally jumped (on him) with excitement over seeing him.

James started jabbering to the goats right away.  "Dog!"  he'd squeal merrily.  "Dog!  Mama!  Dog!"

Well, they do have four legs and fur. 

A bunch of goats jumped at Everett as soon as he walked near them, and the poor guy spent the rest of the time feeling panicky.  I kept him close to me until he felt more comfortable, which unfortunately for him didn't happen until the end despite my best efforts to encourage him.

The goats were just as fascinated with James as he was with them.

They'd get right up to his face, sniff him, and sometimes try to climb up on him.

(I kept James in the stroller so he wouldn't get knocked over, but he didn't seem to mind.)

James loved having close contact with the animals, even the excitable climbing goats.  He is a fairly serious little boy and I can't think of too many times I've seen him more giggly than this particular afternoon.

And, he came away understanding a new word and a whole new category of four-legged, furry animal.  Goat!

Ashley's dreams came true when one of the teenage girls got out Ellie, the miniature horse, for Ashley to take care of.

"Ashley has really impressive balance!" they told me.  What they didn't know is that she has pretended to horse ride almost as long as she's been walking.

I called to Ashley a few times in an effort to get her to look at the camera (why do I do that?), but she didn't seem to hear me.  

Ashley made a very special friend that day and was disappointed to leave.  I was too--we were going to start riding lessons on this beauty but we moved away!

Other animals were almost as interesting to Ashley as Ellie the horse, which is to say, she was still pretty fascinated.  Here is an alpaca, with extremely soft fur.

The baby goats ARE cute.  Anyone can see that.

William really started to take to them.  He followed them around for a long time.  

He also fed them lots of hay (grass?).

LOTS of hay.

They all became pretty good buddies.

He wasn't as interested in the horse, but William gave him a pity rub-on-the-nose anyway.

We all laughed when William tried to feed the cats hay as well.  They all ignored him, in usual cat fashion.  But William didn't seem to mind.

One of William's highlights was gathering an egg the hens had laid.

And, by the end, Everett started coming out of his shell.  I think he wished we could go back so he could have another go at the animals.  Maybe someday.

We are so thankful to our friends who invited us over for a memorable day!