Windswept Ranch

On Saturday, April 12th we took a drive to a little town called Tehachapi. It's about 50 minutes away, up through the desert. We ran some errands and had lunch at a little downtown cafe. On our drive home through the Wind Farm we stopped at a small ranch called WindSwept Ranch. I did not know what to expect when we traveled down a dirt road and saw some rickety sheds in the distance. I had read about a small 'petting zoo' type ranch in the desert and thought we should check it out.

Pulling up to the dirt area, I didn't know if we should proceed. But we did, and had the experience of a lifetime. We met a nice, older lady at the entry, paid our $5 each and she handed the girls each a bucket of carrots, and took us on a tour of the grounds. We started out meeting different types of Yaks and Buffalo.

They were friendly and approached the fence where we fed them carrots and were able to pet their heads. We met the baby buffalo named Snowball, that is pretty new to the ranch. The tour guide told us their rescue stories and it showed us how much these animals are cared for.

We proceeded to the zebras next. They have two different types of zebras at the ranch. They seem to get along well, both trying to get as many carrots as possible. It was amazing to be able be near and pet a zebra up close.

Next we meet two camels. They were so awesome to see. They gave kisses and were able to get right up by us. The hubs were mostly excited about seeing these two. (HUMP DAY!) Their noses were super soft! At the ranch, they let them out of their enclosure during the week for extra exercise. I bet running camels would be a sight to see!

We walked through and saw chickens and emu's. Those emu's are some creepy looking things with their beady eyes!

And then next, the most wonderful part of the day was being able to see and pet REINDEER! I was super excited about this. I think even more excited than M&S! We walked up to their enclosures and fed the reindeer carrots. Our guide told us that Disney filmed the reindeer's walking hoof sounds for the movie Frozen at their ranch last year. Magic, the reindeer, was on an episode of Chelsea Lately, and many of the reindeer go to different towns with Santa during the Christmas season. We were up close and personal with these animals. Who can say that they fed a reindeer? Not many can say that they even had the chance to pet a reindeer or a dozen? I could have stayed at this area all day.

We met llamas, donkey, mini horses, horses, pigs, alpacas, goats and sheep next. I can't brag enough on how amazing it was that we were able to learn and pet these amazing animals.

We pet many animals in the petting zoo at the end. Overall, AMAZING! I loved it more than going to a zoo! I recommended the ranch to many people on local Facebook groups to help them increase their visitors. I can't wait for family members to come out so we can take more people out to see this wonderful place!

It's Been Too Long!

Whoa.... Yes, it has been tooooo long since I have blogged. I have been adding to my origami site almost daily, but just have not got around to doing a blog on here. Live has been going on and on. I seem to have not had the time to do a quick post on the Little Lovelies. The last I blogged about was our amazing trip to DisneyLand. When thinking back about it, I think that I had the most fun.

We (the hubs and I) have come to a point where we think and know that the LL's don't understand how amazing that things that we do are. Maybe that sentence did not make sense. They don't appreciate all that we do and understand that most kids do not get to do all these fun, exciting things.
I don't think they realize how BIG and AWESOME DisneyLand is (and of course, how expensive it is). This may just be a kids thing, or maybe we have done too much with them in these first 7 months (Disney, Knotts Berry, Six Flags, LA, Zoo, Aquarium, Queen Mary, etc...) that these big awesome adventures have become the normal for them. So now we have backed off doing these things because they don't appreciate it, and they always act up/tantrum/throw fits/don't listen right after we are done with it. Who knows, it could just be a kid thing. The downfall of foster/adoption for us is that we don't know what is from their past or what is a normal kid thing. Anyways, moving on...



What have we done since January.... whew... We did our first family hike to a place called Devil's Punchbowl. It's not too far from us and it was very pretty. We also took Risky along for the outing. M&S did pretty well.  We did a short hike just to see how they would hold up, since it was our first one. I also just purchased hiking shoes for them so we can continue hiking.  This seems like the best outlet for getting out energy, saving money, being outdoors, and is something that I love doing.

We also have experienced several new tantrums and fits from both girls. I started to video these in hopes that it may lessen the time of the tantrum and in order to show them later how they look and act while doing it. This also has helped me because I can hear what I have said to them and try to keep calm while doing it. It helped a little bit (when I actually have my phone nearby and can think to remember to grab it). I have shown the girls the short videos and they don't like how they look. I can always remind them of their tantrums and how 'ugly' they were acting.

M&S finally were able to go see a new doctor, dentist, therapist and psychiatrist. They had physicals completed by their new doctor. Teeth cleaned by their new dentist. S had two baby teeth pulled to help with the crowding as well. Their therapist meets with them weekly during school and their psychiatrist prescribed different medication that is working wonders on S, while still adjusting M's to get better.

Let's see... we have discovered new parks, worked on their reading like crazy, used chalk to color the fence, went to the beach during Spring Break, and even went bowling for the first time!

I will get better at blogging more often. There are so many awesome things that we do that I want to always remember. I am going to end this one now, so I can write more about our latest adventure!

OHHH.... and we finally got our ADOPTION FINALIZATION DATE!! It will be on May 12th!!