Pumpkin Patches and Petting Zoos

It is that time of year again when we spend all of our free time at our local pumpkin patches.  Oddly, we don't go to these pumpkin patches to pick pumpkins, but rather to spend time with baby animals, riding ponies and playing around.  Our favorite place is called Impossible Acres and every year we purchase a "season pass" for the girls to hold and cuddle the the adorable baby animals as much as possible.  We have been going to Impossible Acres at least 2-3 times a week because the girls have become very fond of holding the kittens and running around the hay maze.  We were so close to getting a family kitten after seeing how much the girls loved them, but then we discovered that Maggie is allergic to cats and so we will not be able to get a kitten after all.

Baby bunnies

 Squealing piglets

More kittens...

The girls love to brush the pony.

The baby chicks are also a favorite, especially when they are so tiny and fluffy.

Kate is hiding in the corn maze...you might be able to see her head poking out in the distance.

I am telling you, the girls are obsessed with holding the kittens.

On Saturday, we headed to another local pumpkin patch called Bobby Dazzlers.  The girls first wanted to ride the ponies up and down the pumpkin fields.

Cow train time!

The girls were so excited to sit in the very back of the cow train tractor ride.  The tractor pulls the train all over the pumpkin patch, weaving in and out of the corn field for about 10-15 minutes.

Corn kernel pool!

We let the kids pick out 1 pumpkin each at Bobby Dazzlers.  Kate picked out a very green and "warty" squash and Maggie picked out this flat pumpkin since it looked like a plate.  When we came home she was determined to paint it.

We love this beautiful time of year!

Halloween is Coming!

Spooky, Scary Skeletons

Fresno Visit

This past weekend we took a trip down to Fresno to visit Dedushka and Grammalene for a couple of nights.  On Saturday we spent the majority of our time visiting the Fresno Zoo.  The zoo is absolutely amazing, with so many unique animals and fun exhibits.  It is a million times better than the Sacramento Zoo so it was a real treat to spend the day there.

Our first stop was the reptile house.  They had so many colorful poison dart frogs in various bright colors.  They looked like fake, plastic toys.  They were very fascinating to see.

We also saw a lot of different types of snakes.

Kamodo Dragon (on the ground, between the girls)

Orangutan sightings

Happy zoo visitors!

Stingray Bay:

The zoo has an amazing stingray area for the kids to touch and feed huge stingrays.  You have to pay to get in but it is quite a cool experience.  Kate didn't really want to touch the rays but Maggie was so excited to touch and feed them.  She was soaked by the end of the experience from reaching deep into the water to touch all the rays.

Maggie fed raw shrimp to the stingrays.  It took quite a long time for her to finally feed a ray (with tons of help from Will) since Maggie would get too nervous to let the sting ray open it's mouth over her hand, but she finally did it!  

Hornbill 

The zoo has a gated pathway through and Australian exhibit in which kangaroos and emus roam free.  We were seriously about 2-3 feet from this kangaroo. 

We even got to watch the kangaroo jump over the fence and hop away. 

The zoo recently opened up an entire new, huge area to highlight African animals.  We saw cheetahs, rhinos, wildebeests, ostriches, etc.  Our favorite stop were the giraffes.  The girls got up close and personal with a giraffe and got to feed it lettuce (for a small fee).  It was a very memorable experience!

Lions

Elephants

Maggie had her own, special little window to view the elephants from. 

Sea lions

Back at home, we played games, relaxed and worked on a few crafts. 

We even went in the hot tub!

On Sunday morning, the girls took the golf cart to the tennis courts with Dedushka.

After the girls tired of tennis, the girls found a great tree to climb.

After lunch, it was time to leave and head back home.  I attempted several pictures with Dedushka and Grammalene, but Maggie was not in the most smiley of moods.  This was the best I could get. 

 We had a wonderful time visiting the grandparents!!!