Pictures from the farm

This morning we took a road trip with one of Oliver's friends to a working dairy farm about 80 miles from our house. It was such an incredibly fun morning! The best part was that Dennis was able to take the day off and come with us. :-)



I have a habit of constantly hitching up my pants, and now apparently Buttercup has a similar problem . . .





This was the most interesting chicken I've ever seen!


All of the little baby cows, waiting to be fed.







Buttercup giving her daddy the stink eye.


This pig was huge! She probably weighs between 700 and 800 pounds.



The kids got to milk a cow!



Even the big kids had a turn.


The cow was unimpressed.


Inside the milking area. You can't tell in the picture, but there were approximately 9,872 flies constantly buzzing around us. We were all glad to leave.


Entering the maze toward the end of our morning.


Cute Shetlands who watched us eat our lunch. My friend brought an apple to eat and they followed her around the deck, looking longingly at it. :-)


Pumpkins! And chickens!


Another fun day for us!

A trip to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

We've been meaning to visit the Cameron Park Zoo for a while, so this morning we did just that! I really like small zoos, like this one and the Baton Rouge Zoo, because you can take your time and still see all of the exhibits in 2 or 3 hours. Today was very nice day to visit, although a little bit chillier than we'd anticipated (I thought it was going to be in the upper 40s, but it was actually freezing with the wind chill, oops!). Despite the chilly start, we had a great time and we are definitely going back before it gets too hot!

At the "Peacock Park"

A couple of weekends ago, we visited a new (to us) park with a rocky trail and a stream to explore, and is also inhabited by peafowl. (Yes, Hubby, I said PEAFOWL. ;-)

When we first arrived, we looked around for the birds, but couldn't see any. I thought maybe it was too cold for them to be out, and then a woman standing nearby pointed out that they were all roosting in the tree limbs far above our heads. We'd been walking underneath them for 15 minutes without knowing it!

After a few minutes, one swooped down from a tree, then another followed, and then they were all walking around near us. So beautiful!



By the way, did you know that some peaFOWL are white?



While we were there, we met up with Anna and Baby Madi -- who is now Toddler Madi, but will more than likely always be "baby" to Buttercup and Oliver. :-)




Such a fun morning!

At the farm

There's a small petting farm not too far from us, and this morning we decided that it would be fun to visit! Oliver and I are reading Farmer Boy, so he was very excited about going to a real farm. And Buttercup loves animals, so she was excited, too, of course. :-)



Our first stop was the pig pen, where we saw Lucy, a black pot-bellied pig. Buttercup took one look at the big, black pig and handed me her carrot, but Oliver bravely stepped up to try.




Next up were the pens with goats, sheep and a donkey. The sheep didn't come out until later, but the goats were very excited to see us! They were very gentle, and both kids got to feed and pet them. Their fur is surprisingly soft!



Okay, maybe this goat wasn't so impressed after all. :-)





After we ran out of carrots to feed the animals, the kids headed over to the rest of the yard to play games and explore.








Then we got to go on an impromptu hayride through the pasture! It was pretty bumpy, but a lot of fun. Oliver even got to help feed hay to the animals after the ride! What a fun morning. :-)