A Day Spent As A Family!

This past weekend we were to head up to Camp Work Weekend (okay, well technically Steve was heading up for the weekend...the boys and I were just going to go up for the day on Sunday)....but due to some unforeseen excitement, we decided to stay at home as a family.  Which was a FANTASTIC decision for us all!

After Church on Sunday, we had lunch with Steve's parents, let Ryder have a quickie 1/2 hour nap, and then headed to the local Petting Zoo (note: if you are from Lloydminster and have never been to the petting zoo - you need to go....very cool for little Lloydminster!).  

Ezra had a great time!  When we were done, we asked him if we could go and he kept saying "no not quite yet".  So many unique animals to look at and it was a beautiful day to be outside as well.  

First stop was the retile building - full of snakes, crocodiles, alligators, lizards and more.  We "apparently" arrived at a great time - they were bringing a snake out for all to hold and/or touch.  NO THANK YOU!  And Ezra agreed with me...he was not at all keen to have the snake close to him.  Ryder on the other hand, who more and more each day is proving to be our fearless son, had no issues with that snake being close to him! 

They even had turtles out to touch, feel and feed!  

Again, our fearless son was all over this turtle idea!

After the reptile area, we headed over to the more "exotic/large" animal area.  This area consisted of lions, wolves, bear, raccoons, and others.   Tidbit of information that I learned in this area: lions only eat every 3 days (or at least 3 lions :) ).  

Checking out the Arctic Wolf (I was quite surprised by the size of this wolf.  I had always imagined/thought that they were huge....they are big but not as big as I thought they would be.  

Ezra was quite excited to go and look at "Grandma Farm's" horses...he couldn't really understand that they weren't Grandma Farm's...so we stopped trying to correct him :)

Then off to the Petting Zoo area that you can actually enter into the pens.  

First up was feeing the donkey....

Then over to the goats (which was my personal favourite!)...

Ryder wasn't too sure about sharing his grass.  

Then over to the "ugly" sheep - they really need to be sheared!

Then to the pigs!

And when your dad dares you to kiss the big fat pig on the ear and you are 2 1/2 years old...what else do you do....listen to him!  As your mom takes the picture and thinks in her head...DISGUSTING!

Over to the calves (there were 2 baby calves and also a buffalo calf...but the buffalo calf wouldn't stick around for a picture).  

Once we were done at the petting area...we headed over to the bird area.  Ryder LOVED the peacocks!  

And then we finished off our sightseeing with the camel and lamma's.  

Once we finished at the Petting Zoo, we headed home...with one important stop!  

Dairy Queen - after all, they do treat you right there!  :)

What a great day to spend as a family of four!