It's been soooo long since cousin Alexis spent the night! We couldn't wait for her to arrive! Lily was especially overjoyed... although it's a toss up as to who was more excited to see whom... Lily or Alexis!
Dave and I took the girls out to Kensington Park.
It's almost an hours drive, but well worth it since they have a petting farm and a nature center, and we have a year pass! The girls had a GREAT time! I was able to go too, thanks to my new wheelchair (both a blessing and a frustration for me). We were welcomed to the park by a flock of turkeys... yes turkeys... who decided to cross the road in front of us.
When the girls asked why the turkeys were at the park... I told them that the poor things probably knew that there is no hunting at Kensington Park and wanted to be safe from the Thanksgiving massacre... hehehe
Apparently, every adult female on the farm has recently given birth. Babies were EVERYWHERE! Baby goats... baby pigs... baby sheep... you name it!
Amerah was especially fascinated by the piglets. She kept sticking her hand in to pet them and they kept nibbling on her fingers.
The mama pig wasn't thrilled by our attention. She showed her displeasure by calmly walking over to the fence and urinating less than an inch from my foot. We got back in time, thank goodness, before she created a mini lake outside her pen!
Dave made friends with a sweet goat...
Amerah liked the donkey...
They checked out the chickens...
We saw a very content looking pig...
The cow really took to the girls and didn't want them to stop petting her!
Miss Alexis kept asking about the horses...
This one obliged her by getting up close and personal!
Alexis stroked his face once and was done... I kept trying to take a photo and the horse kept trying to eat my camera case! Definitely not a camera shy animal!
So then I couldn't help myself... I took more pictures of the girls looking cute :-)
Then the girls measured themselves to see how many "hands" tall they were... Lexi was 12 1/2 hands and Amerah was 14 hands.
Then they whooped it up cowgirl style...
Amerah the milkmaid...
They tried to lift sacks of grain...
Amerah had the hardest one and she had to put her whole weight into it!
Then it was off to the Nature Center (which was, unfortunately, closed). However, the girls did get to see a lovely swan or two...
They had fun anyway...
According to the girls, the best part of going to Kensington Park was not seeing the animals or walking around the nature center trails... it was, hands down, stopping at a miniscule little beach so that they could collect rocks and shells.
Alexis couldn't wait to show me the rocks she found!
In the car, on the way home, the girls made a tent out of the back seat...
Alexis was all tuckered out for the ride home...
Alexis and Amerah begged and pleaded and finally wore Dave down... so we stopped at Applebees for dinner...
Amerah thought that it was absolutely hysterical that her bottle of root beer looked like a beer bottle...
What a wonderful day! We made it home in one piece, the girls took baths, read a story together, and went to bed. Within minutes they were sound asleep and I didn't hear a peep out of them! It hit me today that my girls are growing up. Alexis asked Amerah to take a bath with her and Amerah responded that she wanted to take a shower. By herself. She did agree to go in and play with Lexi while she was in the tub though. Where did this new modesty come from? I'm not sure I'm ready for her to grow up!
