Roos, Peacocks, Lemurs, Llamas, etc.

Today Stud is the big Three-Eight. I think the kids and I have had more fun today than he is having. He is coming home from work early and plans for us to order pizza and watch Survivor. Sounds good to me!!!

Following will be a long post. Many photos. Go get your coffee and/or yummies and make sure you go to the bathroom first. Although it will take me a lot longer to put together than it will for anyone to read and puruse.

We had an exciting field trip today and I feel I must share. The kids' long distance family (that means everyone, basically!) can see what they are up to through this blog. So get ready for some CUTE shots everyone!

We went to see some Kangaroos etc today. The group went last year but we did not make it for some reason. I don't recall why. Another bonus to HSing the kids. They see WAY MORE of the world than they would sitting in a classroom all day long. When they were in public school they got out in the community ONCE a year, and maybe twice in a good year. There is SO MUCH out there to do and so many places to go, it is mind boggling. Our group has something planned on average, once a week. We don't make it to nearly all the trips, but am I thrilled we made it to this one. Besides Jock's allergies and Clown hurting himself on a rope swing, things went smoothly.

So we will start out with baby Lemurs. Note the tiny month old baby on the back of the Mommy here:



There were turkeys, roosters, chickens, tiny chicks, ducks, peacocks, peahens, and all manner of fowl wandering all over the yards and in the pens. It was SO NEAT. I want some land SO BAD. Would be awesome for the kids to run around on, and to have roosters crowing in the morning, ducks and chickens meandering around. Great experience for the kids to see baby birds hatching and all that fun stuff! Plus, you get hungry, you just go out in the yard and kill yourself some lunch!

here is a close up of a turkey who was NOT SHY:



Then we went to learn about the Wallabies. I couldn't hear half what the man was saying because all of the kids there were so excited and seeing so many sights, they kept on pointing things out to their mothers/fathers and asking about everything. Also, all the roosters crowing and turkeys gobbling got pretty loud. Little chicks were running about peeping frantically at their mothers to wait for them to catch up and get out of the way of all these kids everywhere.

The man kept on telling us the names of all the animals. There was a small little wallaby hopping along in one pen and he was telling us how she has a joey in her pouch. Then his voice changed and got very tender and concerned and he excused himself and went into the pen. He was saying so sweetly to her "Ruby, do you want to go in there?? Ok, just a minute honey, I will open the door" and various things like that. There was a little house he has made for some of them and she had gotten herself ot of it and needed back in. Once he got that sorted out he came back to explain more and give us more of the tour. Here is Princess feeding a Wallaby:







Then, this next occurrence just made me laugh like crazy. The kids were getting annoyed but I got SUCH a kick out of this. We went into this pen with these Kangaroos. This one was laying around in the sun and as soon he spotted us coming, he jumped up and went to his brother (or son, can't remember!) and started wrestling with him and put him in a head lock. This poor little guy who had lost one of his back legs a few years ago, was scrambling to get out of the way! He is called a Blue something, can't recall the name and Brain says he can't remember either. It was so funny, because the man went over and told him (turns out his name is Rufus) to leave the other alone. It was so obvious Rufus was trying to show off. He skulked over to an area of the pen and watched for about 20 minutes as we all fed and petted the other ones. He obeyed the owner and stayed out of the way, watching us all. I felt kind of sorry for him, but the man was worried he may get aggressive with some of the kids. Here it is, for your entertainment as well. It is one of those things where you had to be there, I am sure:




We had a nice calm time petting them and scratching behind ears etc. Here are Jock and I with the one Rufus was putting in a head lock:






He was telling us all about the Joeys and stuff. Was saying how long they stay in the pouch and all that cool stuff. He told us we would be able to hold one later on, at the end of the tour. We were very excited and then one of the kids asked if we could see one from one of the pouches. He said he would try to see if this one (forget her name, they had really cool names! Named after designers, singers, etc. I have no idea how he told any of them apart, though) would let him look in to see her's and show us. He went to show us where the top of her pouch was, and as he went to try to lift it open, she grabbed the top of it and squeezed it shut and gave him a look! It was SO CUTE! I caught the shot right as she is bringing her arm over to clamp down on the pouch:




Brain is a real indoor type of kid. He could sit and read or play on the computer, watch movies/TV or play video games for weeks without minding that he had not been outside for any fresh air. However, once you get him out there, and animals are around?? He will sit with them for hours. The man who owns this farm obviously loves the animals also.


There was one peacock named Percy, who was very friendly. He would come right up and eat out of our hands. It was so sweet, we were opening a gate to go into another pen to see someone else and Percy was strutting along casually. The man was holding the gate and waited and asked "Are you coming in, Perc??? Do you want in buddy???" As he asked the last part, Percy just walked by all regal and arrogant looking. It was so funny. The man said something about I guess not and shut the gate and we went on to the Llamas.











They had a pair of Emus. The female was Monica and the male was Bill. Brain said that right when the man said that, he knew there was some significance. Then when all the parents laughed a lot, his thought was confirmed. He said he wishes he knew what was so funny! LOL So here are Brain and Jock watching the man feed the Emus some treats and answer questions/give information.






None of these pictures are going with the text. Hope it is not too annoying! I can never seem to make it work how I want it to.

We went to see the Llamas before we held the Joey. The guy taught us how to feed them with our own mouth. I will just post some pictures of it. The one Jock is feeding is named "Mr. Fuzzybutt". We got a kick out of that of course!



Then there will be ones with all of us with the Joey except poor Jock. He was washing his hands and face for a long time at the water pump. We had to leave early and not picnic with our friends because he was just miserable. Must close for now, as Princess is craving attention. Brain is reading, Clown is playing with a friend in the Rec Room and Jock is playing across the street with one his friends. Hope you guys enjoyed our photos!!

Oh, blogger is having problems. I need to go ahead and get this published for now and will throw out the last few photos later!