The girls have been begging to see the animals at Zoomars in San Juan Capistrano all year, but we just never made it down there. A friend alerted me to a Groupon deal, so for one of S and A’s Christmas presents, we bought them a pack of Zoomars tickets and decided to go on a weekday when it wasn’t too crowded.
The girls went ballistic over the guinea pigs.
Can I take one home, please?
Help! They’re attacking me!
While Amelia had guinea pigs crowding around her, Samantha sought out the lone guinea pigs to feed.
Peekaboo!
The girls were so in love with the guinea pigs that Jake and I discussed buying one as a pet for their birthday– until the girls started treating them like soccer balls. And that was the end of that.
Baaaa!
Maaaa!
Jake convinced me to quell my heartbreak for the poor ponies and let Amelia and Samantha have a ride.
At first, Samantha refused to get on the pony, until she saw sister riding around.
Home, home on the range.
Snack stop.
A natural equestrian.
More goat feeding.
One of the girls’ top 10 favorite things– trains!
My excuse for not riding the train was that I had to take pictures. I’m sure Jake didn’t mind.
Samantha was upset that the train ride eventually ended and immediately ran to the caboose. The girls didn’t want to go with Daddy this time, so they rode solo.
I think they are ready for a solo train ride to San Diego next time.
They had a panning for gold activity, but the girls were content watching the water.
The ultimate sensory bin– a giant box of corn!
Amelia was in heaven.
So much better than mommy’s sensory bins.
Ok, we’re done here.
While I was trying to keep Amelia from tasting corn covered in toddler-feet germs, Jake had taken Samantha to see the ostriches. This wouldn’t end well.
All of a sudden, we heard a scream and then shrill crying. Apparently, the ostrich had nibbled a little too close to Samantha’s fingers and she thought she had been bitten. It took her two more train rides and multiple kisses to calm down.
Amelia meets Samantha’s nemesis.
It’s now been one week, and any time we say the word, “ostrich” or ask Samantha if she likes ostriches, she holds up her pointer finger (the one that was allegedly nibbled, although sometimes she’ll hold up the finger from the other hand) and whines.
Traumatizing! Sometimes, we like to torture her and show her pictures or videos of ostriches:
Please accept our apologies if you need therapy in the future, Samantha!
Lots of love,
