Rolling Ridge Ranch Playgroup

This past Wednesday our playgroup went to the Rolling Ridge Ranch.

It was a very chilly, overcast, windy day but we were excited to go and see the animals and would not be deterred by the weather. Right as we got there a huge group of school kids came and took over all the wagons so we had to wait a little bit for another wagon. To keep the kids busy while we waited the staff brought over some baby ducks for us to play with.
Morgan was pretty excited to hold the baby duck and did a pretty good job not squeezing too hard...although I'm not sure the baby duck was having the best time.

Morgan's little buddy Jack, Heather's son, holding his duck.
I love the little wings trying to fly away.

Patiently waiting to see the animals.

Here is a zonkey. This is what happens when a donkey and zebra get busy!

Jack's face is priceless!

At first Morgan was super excited to feed the animals and touch them.

Then he tried to hand feed a white elk and it chomped down on his little frozen hand.

After that Morgan wouldn't leave my lap and kept telling the horses to move whenever they stopped. He still enjoyed seeing the animals and naming them but just from a safe, moving distance.

Nice tongue!

Morgan was wearing my gloves for protection.

The elk were by far the most aggressive eaters and kept stealing buckets, I just barely managed to hold onto mine.

This was the head honcho elk who had just had his antlers shaved. He was becoming too aggressive with the wagons and the other animals. Even without his antlers the other animals still treated him as the big man in charge.

I was most in love with all the little pot-bellied pigs running about.

I felt sympathy for the mommy pig! Yikes!

I have a pretty healthy fear of ostriches and was glad they decided to visit the other side of the wagon. Here is a video of these crazy birds going to town on the feed buckets:

These little guys were so tiny and just the cutest things ever!

These guys were pretty good at stealing buckets as well.

I just love the countryside during the fall. The ranch was about an hour south in Amish country and the drive was just beautiful. Lots of small towns and rolling hills.

Can you imagine life with these horns!

I felt the horns when the animals came up to the wagon and I was surprised at how hot they were. They would make great hand warmers.

I was very glad the camels did not seem interested in coming close to the wagons.

Not my favorite animal.

They had a picnic area that we sadly didn't use because of the area but it had alligators, monkeys and a petting zoo next to it. Such a fun, crazy place that we will definitely have to visit again when the weather is nice next year.

I am so glad the other moms and kids had a great time, since I was kind of in charge of the outing. I am so grateful for the other moms at church and for playgroups. I couldn't imagine life as a stay-at-home mom without them!