Idaho life

I realize that we've lived in Idaho for a little over a year now, but in my mind, 'Idaho' and 'Damon's family' is interchangeable. So, it feels like we have finally arrived in The Idaho. The girls are thrilled to have their adult to child ratio doubled/tripled. They are enjoying being thoroughly spoiled by everyone. 

Damon spent the first week of our move back in Pocatello, training his replacement at work. He came home for the weekend and then went to Kennewick, WA for another week of training.  He'll have to return there once a month for a week or so to continue...well, we aren't really super sure why he is going back. He's already pretty well trained at this point. Kennewick is where his job is posted out of though.  A few more trips for familiarity reasons may be what they are going for. 

While Damon was gone we tore all around the area, playing hard and enjoying the good weather. We went to the aquarium (which was dumb and overpriced), we played in the sprinklers, went to Circus Trix and... 

The Boise Zoo!

Estelle had her first merry-go-round ride.  She was in the emotional range of 'slightly terrified' to 'clinging for dear life'. So I'd say it was a mild success.

Indie got to feed the giraffe. She was a little timid, but as usual loved it. She's so brave when it comes to these enormous animals. 

Estelle also got a turn. The workers gave us extra food, saying they liked to 'imprint' the love of animals on babies. Imprinting did not go well. Estelle was hysterical.  She did not appreciate the experience so it was a quick affair.  I didn't get any great pictures of the terror.

Babby Farms:

Indie got a bag full of food to feed all these animals.  Animals that are randomly nestled in the 'middle of nowhere' Idaho. I was helping Stella say 'hi' to a zebra and not quite paying attention to Indie. Next thing we know, this goat had grabbed the paper sack out of her hand, spilling half the food on the floor and gobbling up the rest along with the sack. Indie's face was pure shock. 

Lil' Sebastian sighting! 

They bonded over same-same hair color. 

Feeding the 'zorse'. Bet you'll never guess what cross breeding that is. 

This camel.  Indie was the most excited to feed this guy. She kept checking how close we were getting as we made the rounds through the enclosures. (Side note. Indie's favorite animal right now is a pink hippo.  Yes, it has to be pink.  It also has to have a yellow star on its bum...don't ask me how that evolved.)

After feeding Mr. Camel an obscene amount, Indie kept wanting to linger. I encouraged her to climb to the top of the first fence and when she did, I would pass her some food. I thought it'd be fun for her and make a cool picture. So Indie started climbing, but it was quickly obvious that she was nervous about the height. I helped coax her back down.  However, instead of coming down all the way, she stayed on the first rung of the fence and stuck her head through the gap, to say hello to the watchful camel. 

Slight problem though, Indie didn't have any food to offer.  The camel immediately started trying to eat the closest thing to it,  Indie's head. He began chomping on her hair with his huge lips.  I rushed to Indie and pulled her hair out of its mouth and her body out from between the two fences.  Indie was obviously hysterical and scared.  It was scary!  I didn't want her to be traumatized by it though so we played it off as 'the camel was trying to give you kisses, he just didn't know how to be gentle.' 

Indie calmed down and wanted to feed Mr. Camel some more, which I was very impressed with.  Apparently the camel was not however, because he bit her.  She cried and we decided to pull her away from the camel. Indie was reluctant, she really had taken a liking to this huge animal. Despite the fact that it wasn't a pink hippo with a yellow star tramp stamp. 

We moved on to the llamas (a passing teenager took pity on Indie and gave her the rest of her bag of food.) While we were feeding the llamas, I heard a loud crack coming from Mr. Camel's direction.  Another little girl had approached him to feed and he had broken through the first rung on the first rung, splitting the wood in half. I'm pretty sure he was coming after Indie to finish her off. Too much adventure for one day!  

There was a small indoor enclosure full of monkeys and sloths.  One baby monkey in particular was smitten with Susan.  He pulled on her clothes, talked to her, held her hand, and eventually snagged one of her earrings off her ear.  He was so adorably mischievous.

We also passed some otters playing with colorful balls and being adorable. Stella could hardly stand the injustice.  She could not get over the fact that the otters got balls and she did not.  We had to leave. Too sad.  

It was a pretty hot day, so we played on the playgroup for as long as we could stand it.  We'll definitely be coming back when their pony rides open and their baby kangaroos are out.  Hopefully Mr. Camel will have chilled out a bit by then. 

All in all, not a bad start to our 'Idaho life'.