Kiwi Valley

Yesterday we went on our first fun family outing in a long, long time. We went to a place called Kiwi Valley which is actually a Farm park. It was cheaper to go here than the zoo and it was wayyyyy better too because we got to feed the animals and pet some of them, go on as many horse and pony rides as we wanted, go through a maze and see some hidden caves, see a some special shows that they had on (It was the Golden Gumboot Festival and they had some kind of fundraiser for CANTEEN - child cancer - going on) and just have fun! The weather was cloudy and it rained a couple of times but generally it was pretty good. It also wasn't that busy which was another bonus. They had an Police Dog training show on that we watched and Bethany got her face painted and Andrew and I both tried the gumboot toss. If you got it over this bar you could enter into the draw for a year's membership to kiwi valley. I ALMOST got the gumboot over the bar. Andrew got it over on his third try and entered our names in the draw. It would be awesome if we won because I know that we would use that pass to its full advantage. Our chances are slim but you never know. It was funny to watch some of the Asian tourists throw the gumboots because they would try with all of their might and only end up throwing it straight up in the air! Andrew and I had some good chuckles over this one.

Bethany LOVED kiwi valley. She loved petting the baby bunnies and lamb (though one was pretty frisky and she tended to stay away from that one) and feeding the animals. We saw goats, sheep, pigs, bunnies, emus llamas, ducks, cows, a donkey, chickens, horses, ponies, peacocks and pigeons. She also LOVED the pony rides and was not scared in the slightest. She went for a few rides and each time she had a huge smile on her face. Maybe she will be an equestrian in the making? I had fun there too. A tripped and fell at one point as I as trying to jump off a ledge and help Bethany on the pony and a goat stole my brochure out of my hand and ate the whole thing as I was trying to help Bethany pet him (he would NOT let me grab it back and turned his head each time I tried - goats are soooo naughty!). It was actually funny that the goat stole the brochure...he was probably thinking "stuff you for not feeding me! I'll take my own thank you!" I had a good laugh to myself about it...especially when Bethany said "uh - oh!".  Anyway here are some pics. Enjoy!

Bethany and Daddy petting the baby bunnies. She happened to close her eyes unfortunately. Notice her hat? Yup I made it.

                                 Petting the baby lamb. This was the frisky one that kept jumping around.

Ed the donkey.

            A flower! She sat really still while the lady did it and smiled when she saw it in the mirroir.

                                                                        Pony rides and pets

Feeding some of the animals. There were goats there to feed as well but we tended to stay away from them because they were quite unpredictable. Even these sheep were starting to be a bit bossy!

                                                                    The horseshoe toss

And that's about it. Notice how I'm in few pics. That's because I'm usually the one who is taking them! Arghhh. I guess I'll have to change this at some point.