Play dough is an everyday thing in our house. Grae is free to use the bin of tools and dough we keep in the main living space of our home at any time and she also has a smaller set in her bedroom to use during quiet play time too.
Tag Archives: animals
A Vist to Kangaroo Creek Farm
It took us a while, but we finally made it to the Kangaroo Creek Farm in Winfield today. It’s been on our radar since visiting the zebra farm last summer, and I’m so glad we snuck it in before leaving.
Dog & Girl: Best Buds
Beacon Hill Children’s Farm
While I’ve spent a ton of time in Victoria {and even lived there for a summer}, that was back in my university days… The days where clubs with the best DJs and the restaurants with the best 11 a.m. brunches was important. But great spots in Victoria with kids? I had no idea. So last week, I asked my Facebook friends for some recommendations. They came back with all kinds of great ideas, including one of the most popular ones – Beacon Hill Children’s Farm.
I did a little online research and learned that the farm is found right inside Beacon Hill Park and is home to all kinds of animals, some of which roam the grounds freely. The combination of the outdoors, animals, and a park sounded perfect for our little lady, so we made it our first stop of the trip.
Here is our visit in photos…
Beacon Hill Children’s Farm was such a fun place to visit. Heck, I’d love visiting even if I didn’t have a munchkin in tow. The admission was by donation, the animals were very accessible, they seemed well taken care of and happy, and the staff members were very friendly and informative. We loved it so much in fact, that we’re already planning to go back before the end of our time in Victoria. ☺
♥
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To the {Woodland Park} Zoo!
Zoos are one of those things I love and really dislike all at the same time. (Well, unless we’re talking about the Kuwait zoo, that is… Sadly, that one would have to fall into the category of ‘really dislike’ more than anything else… Animals from all over the world all kept in dry, desert-esque habitats with school children harassing them and visitors feeding them ice cream and popcorn is just not my idea of animal-friendly.) So when I found out that we were staying outside of downtown Seattle this weekend, very close to the Woodland Park Zoo, I had mixed emotions about going. On one hand, I knew Gracen would love visiting. She’s a true animal lover and it would be a chance to see many of the animals in person for the very first time. On the other hand, I knew that leaving feeling terribly for animals kept in small, non-natural confines was a real possibility (I obviously hadn’t done much looking into the Woodland Park Zoo beforehand).
I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised. The Woodland Park Zoo is the least zoo-ish zoo I’ve ever visited. And I mean that in the very best way possible.
Because it spans 92 acres, its {more than} 1000 animals have tons of space to live and roam as they would in their true habitats. And the best part? There are no tiny plexiglass confines or cages in sight. In fact, most of the animals live in fields and forests so giant that visitors can only see small parts of them (though many can be accessed from several sides and have designated viewing areas). It’s hard to describe, but it felt as though we were visitors to the animals’ environment, rather than them being the visitors in our environment. It was peaceful. And beautiful.
And we had a wonderful time.
Here’s our morning in {a ridiculous number of} photos (try to ignore the fog and smudgy fingerprinted glass)…
♥
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iPhoneography // Thanksgiving Saturday at Davison Orchards
When I told Gracen that we would be headed to the Okanagan for the weekend, she immediately exclaimed that she was excited and started listing off all of the things she wanted to do while there, one of which was “Old MacDonald’s Farm”. Confused, I asked her what she meant. Her response? “Old MacDonald’s Farm – apple treat drink!” Such a funny little thing. With that, I knew she actually meant Davison Orchards, home of the appleanche (a pure apple slushy drink we let her try this summer).
So this morning, after a little sleep in for Brad and I and a little play for Grae, Manmaw, and Poppop, my girl and I headed into Vernon for a Davison visit. The orchard was extra beautiful today… sunshiny, packed with pumpkins, and sprinkled with autumn displays. Gracen loved every minute as always, and thought the pumpkin people were especially funny.
“thankful” // first stop: animals
goat feeding
donkey love
greedy sheep // corn barn
farmer grae // climb
corn maze // pumpkin family
sunshine // hoedown
♥
Photos edited with Instagram. Find me under jkossowan.
Southlands Country Fair
Today, my munchkin and I escaped to a little piece of rural paradise, right here in the city of Vancouver. We spent our day out at Southlands Riding Club (just off of SW Marine Drive), at their annual Country Fair and it certainly did not disappoint. The fair, which raises money to support the club, as well as their summer riding program for underprivileged children and two other local charities that run programs for disabled riders, was wonderful… The perfect way to spend a day with little ones, really. Besides horse entertainment and demonstrations all day long, there were pony rides, hay rides, a petting farm, a vendors’ market filled with local goods, musical entertainment, a huge farm yard fun area bursting with old-fashioned activities for little ones, and more. Grae and I arrived in time for opening, stayed well past her usual nap time, and could have stayed for at least two hours more.
Without a doubt, the highlight of the day was the pony rides (and not just for Grae – it seems most families felt the same way). Though I’d read about how busy the pony ride area was in years past, I thought Southlands had a great system this time around. Basically, you visited a booth to sign up for your pony ride time slots, then went about your day and reported to the ring only once it was your designated time. Because the line was only for time selections, it moved fairly quickly despite its length. Luckily, I thought ahead and signed up for two time slots {an hour apart}, guessing that Gracen would love her first horse riding experience and want to go again. And thank goodness I did. The first thing out of her mouth after getting off her pony was, “More pony riding?”
Here’s a look at our day in photos…
First pony ride.
Wee cowgirl on a wee pony.
Puppy dog face.
Goats need hugs too.
‘Hello piggy!’
Back to the riding ring.
On the ‘BIIIIG’ pony, as requested.
Doesn’t get much better.
Cowgirl Grae.
Tractor driving.
Bouncy horse!
A giant sensory pit… the hay pile.
Yay for hay.
Ahhh… Comfy.
Future firefighter?
What a day. I’m not sure who had more fun… But one thing is for sure, we’ll definitely be back next year.
♥
Grae & Bella: Eventual Buds
A week ago, Gracen was enamoured with the idea of Bella (Grandma Charlotte’s dog), but whenever the dog came within a 4 foot radius, she’d shake in panic and desperately try to climb up the legs of the nearest adult in search of protection (in Grae’s defense, Bella is still just a puppy and has been easily excitable and quick to jump up until recently). Now, just 7 days later, after many long walks and several baggies of dog treats, it’s a completely different story. They’ve become best buds. Grae isn’t the least bit fearful and Bella has been calm, patient, and gentle despite the lingering hugs, overzealous pats, and ongoing tail tugs. Just look at these two…
♥
Bella & Berries
Each day that we’ve been here in the Okanagan, Grandma Charlotte has taken Gracen along on one of her daily walks with Bella, her two year old water spaniel. Besides some quality Manmaw-Gracen time, the result has been Grae becoming much more comfortable around Bella, Bella becoming much more calm and trustworthy around Gracen, and this Mama {and Papa} having an hour of our day to do anything we like. (I must admit, living overseas for the first year of Grae’s life and now living 5 hours away from the nearest grandparent has not allowed us many of these opportunities, so at first I didn’t know what to do with myself… But I quickly realized that the time could be very well spent doing little crafty projects for Gracen’s second birthday party, which will be celebrating at the end of August. Yay for getting things done early!)
The other thing that’s come of these walks is the realization that there were several currant bushes bursting with berries down at the farm. So this morning, rather than sending Gracen and GC on their way, we all headed down the narrow dirt road, pails in hand, with the goal of clearing the bushes and using the currants to make something yummy.
Of course, we had to stop part ways to allow Gracen to give Bella a treat. During the past week, she’s become the official doler of puppy goodies and she takes the job very seriously.
We arrived at the bushes to finding them bursting with tiny, dark berries. While Papa whined pretty much the entire time (hi Babe! ☺) and even tried to sit in the grass and just watch us pick, Gracen loved picking berries. She carefully plucked them off of the branches, gave them a sideways glance, and then popped them into her yellow bucket.
Of course, she made some time to sample them as well.
Before we knew it, the bushes were empty and we were on our way home with a bucket full of currants and a plan to make my yummy baked berry oatmeal for breakfast the next day.
♥
Zebras at Raw Hide Ridge Ranch
When I heard that there was a zebra farm right here in the teeny tiny town of Lumby (the town that is so small that it’s technically a village), I didn’t really believe it. Zebras, like the ones from Africa, right here in LUMBY? Sure enough, my good friend, Google, confirmed the story. Rawhide Ridge Ranch, located just 25 minutes outside of downtown Lumby (towards Mabel Lake), is not only home to four zebras. but it’s home to turkeys, cows, horses, sheep, chickens, coy, and bison too.
Curious to see what zebras living in Lumby looked like, and knowing Gracen’s love of animals, we picked a day and booked a ranch tour.
Today, we arrived to the ranch to meet James, one of the farm’s hosts, a big friendly rottie named Max, and this sweet little calf named Sophie.
Gracen wasted no time and wanted to go over and say hello to Sophie right away.
Our host, James, was wonderful. He was super friendly, truly excited to tell us all about the farm, and very mindful of the fact that we had a {soon-to-be} two year old with us. He even brought out a bottle of milk for Gracen to feed Sophie.
We spent the first part of our tour oohing over Sophie and this one week old foal, named Sky.
After a quick trip to the pond to admire the gorgeous water lilies and lily pads, it was off to the barn to meet a mystery animal named Tom.
Turned out that Tom was a giant, friendly turkey who roams freely around the ranch.
Such a funny looking guy – and with a personality to match.
We hung out in the barn for a while and visited with the other birds, and then it was time to be on our way.
Next stop – the fish! Strangely enough, this was one of Grae’s very favourite parts of tour (most likely because James gave her the job of feeding some of them).
It wasn’t easy, but when we finally convinced Grae to leave the fish, we headed down to the field to find Lucky, a very friendly ram who happily walks on a rope and visits with guests. We petted him, learned about what to do if he ever puts his head down and looks as though he might charge at you, and some of us (not me!) were even brave enough to try playing a butting game with him.
Then it was off to see the farm’s highlight… The zebras.
When we got up to their enclosure, they were all the way at the very back of it near the forest, so James went in, rounded them up, and got them to come towards us. The four of them, including 3 mares (2 of which are currently pregnant) and one stallion, came right up to the fence to let us admire them. They were beautiful and it was really cool to see zebras happily living in this sort of setting, rather than in a zoo. We learned all about zebra behaviours and even got to witness Apollo, the dominate stallion, keeping the herd close together by nipping the rump of one of his female counterparts.
After a visit to the bison herd, that was our tour. We stopped to see the fish again, visited the beautifully rustic guest house that can be rented out much like a bed and breakfast, said goodbye to Tom, and left with a dozen free-range eggs and Grandma Charlotte’s name on the list for an all-natural free-range Christmas turkey.
We had such a good time at Rawhide Ridge Ranch that I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to visit a real, working farm.
♥
UPDATE: Rawhide Ridge Guest Ranch has closed since our visit.
Rawhide Ridge Guest Ranch is located on Siglet Road in Lumby, BC. Contact them at rawhideridge@gmail.com to book a tour. Tours are $10 for adults, $5 for children, free for munchkins 4 and under and can be booked from April 1st to October 31st.
Ostrich Watching
Yes, these are the types of things we do while on vacation at home in the Okanagan…
Stop on the side of a random road in Lavington, pile out of the car, and ostrich watch.
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Goats & Grandma
This afternoon we headed into town to visit with Manmaw Sue {and Rorie and my Aunt and Uncle}. We met at our favourite spot – Davison Orchards and Grae didn’t waste any time letting everyone know just what she wanted to do – feed the animals. Luckily, Grandma Sue and Rorie came armed with a pocket full of quarters because I think we fed every single animal on the farm. Twice. Grae was even brave enough to feed a few of the animals on her own.
Putting those quarters to use!
Lulu and Manmaw.
Hungry goat.
Brave girl!
Feeding the sheep.
Sending a cup full of treats up to the top.
Spreading the love to Salsa, the 26 year old donkey.
Snacks and stickers.
The afternoon ended with a sudden thunder storm so violent that it caused Grae to break into tears, which in turn led our very sweet cashier to retrieve a big white chocolate chunk cookie for her, which in turn led me to have to {very awkwardly} explain our choice to not feed Gracen refined sugar or junk food… But that’s another story…
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Bug Lover
Visiting the ant family living near our front porch has become a daily ritual as we come and go. This girl loves bugs. She’s very good about not touching them, although she does point very closely while calling out, “Hiiiiiii ant! Hiiiiiii!”
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iPhoneography // Farm Life
One of Gracen’s very favourite farm activities… Cow watching.
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Taken with Instagram. Find me under jkossowan.
A Vernon Favourite: Davison Orchards
Those who really know me, know my love for Davison Orchards. I love everything about it – the grown on site produce, the fresh-pressed apple juice, the unique gifts found in the country market, the fact that it’s family run… I could go on and on. It’s just such a quaint, feel good place to visit. And the best thing is that it seems to be getting better and better with time.
Since our vacation has been a little wet these last couple of days, we decided we’d make the most out of our dry morning, and headed into Vernon to visit my favourite spot. Gracen loved it. We did spend some time at Davison’s last summer, but Gracen was only 10 or 11 months old then…still a baby. This time was different. She was big enough to run around the orchard, take full advantage of the play ground, and feed and pet the animals…grown enough to take it all in.
Our first stop was the playground. Gracen was beyond excited to ride the tractor, play on the tire horses, and zoom down the slide. In fact, she was having such a blast that it was hard to pull her away in order to go and check out the rest of the orchard.
With the promise of seeing animals, our little animal lover followed us up the hill into the orchard. And she was very pleased she did. We saw rabbits, chickens, goats, sheep, and a donkey. Not only did she get to see the animals, but she also got to pet and feed some of them too. Her favourite part was retrieving the food from the dispenser, carefully placing it in the cup, and turning the wheel to send the treats up to the greedy goat waiting on the bridge above head. And although she was a little apprehensive, she even fed one of the goats by hand.
Next, we headed to the Kids Corral – a newer addition to the farm. It was awesome. Giant slides, a plasma car track, duck racing lanes, and a huge sandpit (complete with real tractors and an old truck) were just part of the fun. There was also a teepee to hide in, a corn maze to make your way through, a tree house perfect for enjoying the view, and a cow bell ringing station for those wanting to make some noise. The coolest part though? The biggest sensory bin I’ve ever seen (and you know I love me a good sensory bin). It was actually a shed filled with dried corn, shovels, and tractors… Amazing! 
The best part is that we’re hoping to do another visit next weekend when my brother, sister-in-law, and all of Miss G’s cousins arrive. Can’t wait. It’s sure to be quadruple the fun {and quadruple the craziness!}
♥