Dad's Day Off

When Spencer told me that he was taking President's Day off I immediately decided that we needed to take advantage of it and do something fun together as a family. Spencer hardly EVER takes off work for what he calls "bank holidays" so this was a real treat for us.

After doing a little bit of research and talking to a couple of friends we decided to go to The Living Desert in Palm Desert. I had never heard of the place, but what a fun little find! Spencer and I were pretty impressed with the little "zoo" and couldn't believe how clean and maintained it was. We loved all the retired men and women who worked there and who were all so friendly and helpful. The place had enough animals to keep the kids entertained, but also had other things for kids to do, like a small park, hands on discovery science center, a carousal, and a giant train display that both my kids could not get enough of...we spent a good 30-40 minutes watching the model trains.

There was also a small petting zoo where the kids got to brush some goats and sheep. Owen was a little nervous about the petting zoo at first, but once he saw how mild the animals were he warmed up to the idea of brushing a goat fairly quickly. Audrey, in true Audrey fashion, wanted to love and hug all the animals and had no fear of them whatsoever.

I had never seen a warthog before, have you? Craziest looking animal ever!!

Riding the carousal. I swear she loved it, even though you can't tell by her face in this picture.

And of course, Owen chose to sit on the bench rather than ride on one of the animals.

I have to talk about this turtle for just a minute. My kids did enjoy seeing the animals, but after 2-3 minutes at each exhibit they were ready to move on and see something else. But when we got to the tortoises, they were both so enamoured by them we couldn't get the kids to leave. I could not believe how fascinated my kids were by the tortoises!! We must have sat and watched them eat for 15 minutes....I thought it was pretty funny!

Overall it was a fun family day. That night I found it pretty funny that Spencer kept saying how tired he was. He went to bed before 10:00...which never happens. Now maybe after spending a day doing what I normally do he will understand why I'm always the one exhausted and ready for bed by 9:30!!