I've gotta hurry and get this posted so I can count it as a "February" post...tomorrow is Leap Day, and as we all know...
whatever you do on Leap Day doesn't count!
For those of you who don't live in southern Arizona: the last weekend of February is always a four-day weekend/school holiday in the Tucson area. The reason? The Tucson Rodeo (
La Fiesta de los Vaqueros) is happening the whole week. There's a huge parade to kick off the weekend (
the longest non-motorized parade in the country! All floats are pulled by horses/donkeys/what have you), and the rodeo itself happens over several days. I haven't been to the
actual rodeo for a few years, but it's lots of fun!
The rodeo is a city tradition since 1925, and they take it
very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that apparently it's more important to take school off for the
rodeo than for
President's Day, which happens that Monday. Interesting set of priorities, Tucson!
But I digress. So, Lorelai was home from school...what to do? A lot, actually! We got off to a slow start on Thursday (except Nathan, who still had to go to work that day); after lazing around all morning, we decided to check out a new local bakery named
Cayley Cakes:
The girls and I each ordered a gourmet cupcake, freshly made. They were a little pricey for cupcakes, but they were also
very tasty! They seemed a little smaller than the store-bought alternative, but they were so rich & creamy, the size ended up being immaterial.
Lorelai ordered a Cookies & Cream cupcake, Celeste chose an Orange Creamsicle flavor, Aurora got the Chocolate Overload, and I had a Carrot-Cream Cheese. Wow. What delicious cream cheese icing! Lorelai managed to finish her cupcake, but the other two girls left most of theirs, leaving me to help finish them off. Mmmm...followed by *urrp*. Too much for my stomach...I was stuffed for the rest of the afternoon! In the future, I think Cayley Cakes would be a great place to take one girl at a time, perhaps as a mommy-daughter or daddy-daughter outing. We enjoyed our time there!
After that, it was time to go work off the cake by playing at the playground:
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| Aurora stole some food from another visitor...here she is unrepentantly stuffing it in her mouth :) |
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| Everyone was pooped afterward |
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| When we got home, it was time to relax on the trampoline! |
It was a windy day, but so sunny & warm! A wonderful day to be out and about. I love Arizona in February!
The next day (Friday, Feb. 24th) was a pretty full day as well. Nathan decided to take the day off (giving him only a three-day week, since his job with PAG does things the "normal" way and gives him President's Day off as well), so it was time for some family outings. First up was the
Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch.
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| Ready to feed some animals!! |
This ranch is home to dozens of ostriches, donkeys, goats, and deer; it also has a lorikeet aviary and a small duck pool. It is basically a chance for people to pay a little money and feed a bunch of animals by hand--including some more exotic varieties, like the ostriches. The ranch sits just off Interstate 10, at the foot of Picacho Peak; it's more or less the "halfway point" between our home and the Mesa Arizona Temple. We've lived in Arizona for eight and a half years now, and
every time we drive up to the temple, we've looked at that ostrich ranch and said, "Someday, we have to visit that place." Well, it was finally "someday" for us!
We started out with the donkeys, who were very shaggy & gentle...even their bristly-looking whiskers were soft! These were the first animals we fed, then we moved on to the deer.
I loved feeding the deer. They were so small and dainty and cute! As you can see, they barely came up to Nathan's waist. They really swarmed at the fence whenever they saw someone coming. It was nice to feel needed!
Sadly, not everyone in our family was having a great time...
For whatever reason, the deer really scared Aurora. I know I should have pulled her away, but the sight of them staring her in the face while she screamed in terror was really funny. Yes, I'm a mean mom.
My favorite part of the trip was feeding the goats. Maybe because they are so adorably goofy-looking...I don't know. The ranch found some unique ways to display their goats, and for us to feed them:
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| Freakish two-headed goat!! (well, not really...it just looks like that) |
Besides the holes in the wall, the ranch also stuck several goats up on a crane for an even stranger feeding option:
Every day, the ranch sticks a few different goats up in this elevated platform; then, visitors can put feed into a little cup and send it up to the goats via pulley. So weird-looking! According to the ranch, though, the goats
really love to hang out up there; it's part of their instinctive desire to seek out high places. Supposedly, the goats always push and shove to be the lucky ones chosen to sit up high every day. This was probably Lorelai's favorite station; she loved turning the crank and delivering the food over & over!
The ostriches themselves were a little scary. For one thing, they're very big birds. They were all taller than me! For another thing, they are pretty strong and quick, and they have sharp beaks (one of them snatched a food pellet right out of Celeste's hand, giving her a little pinch in the process). Let's just say I was glad to have a tall fence between me and them.
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| The girls were hesitant to get too close! |
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| Most people put their feed into a double-sided foot slot for the ostriches; probably the safest route for your fingers |
The other birds at the ranch weren't so intimidating; Aurora got over her fear of the deer in time to feed some of the white ducks--she loved them!
But perhaps my favorite part was inside the lorikeet aviary. As part of your admission, you get a few small cups of nectar to feed these colorful birds. And they aren't shy about getting up close and personal to eat it!
Two of the birds pooped on Nathan. According to the sign outside the aviary, that's a sign of good luck. Personally, I think they made that up, so guests wouldn't feel bad about getting pooped on.
Anyway, we had a lot of fun at the Rooster Cogburn Ranch...it was a good value for the admission, and the kids loved it. We won't wait eight years to go back. Afterwards, we decided to have lunch at Picacho Peak State Park.
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| The view from our picnic table |
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| Playing on the playground at the food of the hiking trails |
It was a beautiful place to eat. Picacho Peak itself is a very striking rock formation, and it inspired Nathan and I. We want to climb it, if we can get in shape...we don't do as much hiking as we used to (read: before our kids were born and life got busy), but we both really enjoy taking walks on or around mountains.
We both hope to start hiking slowly, with simple trails, then gradually working our way up to Picacho Peak's Sunset Vista Trail (which takes you right to the top of the prominent peak) by February of 2013. Here's hoping we can commit ourselves...it looks like it would be awesome!
Still, we managed to have a nice little hike with the girls this time...we even found a tiny cave at the end of the "kid's trail"!
Aurora was just amazing...she hiked the whole path without any help, pulling her way up the difficult steps and never stumbling on any rocks. She is such a tough little trooper! Lorelai was game for anything as well...she even said she wanted to hike up to the top of Picacho Peak with us next year! (the trail's official advisory says children 10 and under shouldn't attempt the final ascent, so we may have to leave her behind, unfortunately). Celeste...was a different story. I think our little princess prefers to exercise in more "feminine" ways, like dancing. She was a little tired & cranky by the time we finally made it back to our car. She tried her best, though, and we appreciated how understanding she was about everybody else's "good time."
That same night, we went to a chili cook-off for our ward. I submitted a chili, but it was probably too "different" for most people's tastes (it was filled with squash & tomatillos; nutritious, perhaps, but not what people think of when they want
chili). It was fun to sample the many different kinds out there. After the yummy dinner, the ward held an auction; it was a fundraiser for this summer's Boy Scout, Cub Scout, and Girls' Camps.
It was inspiring (and fun!) to see the ward contribute so many goods and services, and also to bid on many items. I offered a month of free piano lessons, as well as a few baked goods (my home-canned applesauce and several loaves of
my super-duper pumpkin chocolate-chip bread). It was fun to bid, as well...I got a few hours of babysitting from one of the young women (yay!), some raspberry-chipotle sauce (mmm), and some beautiful hand-made signs to decorate our rooms upstairs. In the end, the ward far exceeded the fundraising goal it had set, and everybody had fun as well...so it was win-win!
Our Rodeo Days Saturday wasn't quite as flashy, but it was just as rewarding: Lorelai's soccer team (with Nathan as coach) finally won its first game! There was great rejoicing. *yaaaaay* No, seriously, we were jumping up & down and screaming with joy. It's been a long road for these kids, and I hope this victory gives the team some added confidence for the games ahead. The rest of the day was spent picking up homemade tamales (from yet
another Scout fundraiser, this time from our stake's Spanish-speaking branch) and buying supplies to fix some bikes (more on that tomorrow). It was busy work, but it was time spent as a family, which meant it was the perfect way to cap our Rodeo Days weekend.
