This is Not a Decorating Post

Last weekend the Hubs and I loaded our boys in the car and took a long drive to a "ranch," also described as  a "Drive-Thru Petting Zoo."  It is a very cool premise, although I am not sure how humane it is.  On the plus side, the animals roam free in a very natural setting.  On the negative side, they don't roam so much as stand in front of cars, hungrily eyeing the drivers.

When they are not menacing people, they are drooling.  Also, they are smarter than they look because most of the drool lands on the handle of the car door, such that getting out is easy, but getting back in requires HAZMAT gloves.  They are probably trying to up their odds if for some reason you decided to get out...then run for your life back to your car only to stop short at the sight of a quart of goop on your door handle.

You don't have to buy a bucket of feed for them, but of course we did.  Then we promptly failed to read the brochure which clearly states that if you want to keep your fingers, you must FEED THEM FROM THE BUCKET, so our first attempt at feeding ended when the Hubs had to launch the food out of his hand to keep from losing it to a half-crazed Dik-Dik.  Or something.  I don't know what its called, so I am calling it a Dik-Dik.

Speaking of crazy, have you ever casually turned to look out your window, and found yourself inches away from the giant eyeball of a hungry bison?

Yeah, I definitely yelped in surprise a few times.  And also asked for the window to be rolled up, repeatedly.  One time we all frantically rolled our windows up, only to realize the baby was back there with his window all the way down, laughing.  Great moments in parenting.

Subsequent feedings from the bucket went more smoothly.  I especially enjoyed the llamas, which were generally pretty cute.  They definitely weren't as creepy as the goats (goat eyes weird me out) or as scary as the bulls with 6-foot horns.  Even with the llamas, though, there is this problem of how to stop once you start.  You put your bucket out the window, and suddenly every furry beast in the vicinity knows you're a sucker.  They proceed to fight over the food while you figure out how to roll up your window without sacrificing your bucket or your hands.

The rear view.  Not as cute as their faces.  But I had to choose: feed them or take a picture!

Near the end of our drive-thru experience we came across the zebras, and finally I was enjoying myself as much as the boys were.  They were beautiful!

Seeing them put me in the mood for one or two of these:

Photo: overstock.com

Now, who said this post wasn't about decorating?