Rooster Cogburn Farm

The temperature dipped down into the 90's last week and it was finally cool enough for some outdoor adventures. We headed to Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Farm.  Sounds weird right? Yeah, it is. But it was so fun and definitely something that can't be replicated.

 I knew from the descriptions that it would be something right up our family's alley: cheap, unique, kid-friendly, and involves feeding animals. Evelyn was a little excited:

 Evelyn is always a natural with animals, and Addi is ok as long as they don't scare her somehow.

The donkeys were a good place to start: fun and gentle.

 The deer: VERY friendly and so tame. They were by far the best for the kids and we spent a ton of time there. The girls were in dreamland because the deer followed them everywhere like they were Disney princesses. Addi kept saying, "Oh, they love me!" "THIS is the cutest baby one!" and "Rudolph! I see him! Come on rudolph!"

This was our welcoming party:

 Blake had to be coerced into finding out the deer were nice. 

 Right after Lance pushed him into the deer he got this huge smile on his face and said, "Hey! Dey wicked me!" (they licked me) That was all it took.

 I loved Addi's face while feeding the deer. It really was a dream come true for her.

 Next up: goats.  Really, really weird. They had a goat penthouse where you put food into cups on a conveyor belt and sent it up for them to eat. They all started kicking their conveyor belts as soon as we walked up, I guess wanting us to choose their cup.

 And, apparently, they like it up there. Remember the phrase from this sign: "very intelligent animals" for later...

 THIS was definitely the weirdest part. These goats were going insane trying to get to be the one to get the food. At this point Lance said that the food must be laced with drugs.

...and they certainly did not look or act "intelligent" as the last sign mentioned. This one was trying to escape.

 We asked Ev if she wanted to get a goat kiss. She did not. In fact the kids were mildly scared of the goats, and I was too, so we moved on quickly. I would guess this is probably the only lady ever to opt for a goat kiss.

 Ostriches: I took the two little kids, so we wouldn't lose any fingers, and Lance and Evelyn fed the ostriches. Addi accurately said, "They look mad" 

 Ev putting the food in the tube for them. Just look at the feeding frenzy.

She is one brave girl. I pretty much ended up throwing food at them when I fed them.

 And Lance was brave enough to go on the top deck.

 At this point I passed the camera over to Lance and helped Addi feel a little less emotional about feeding ducks. You can see it was pretty sad at first, but she got over it quickly.

 When I gave Lance the camera before the ducks, he gave me the rest of the food, which included two containers of food for the Lorikeet forest. My mistake was having it in sight when we walked in.  I immediately got ambushed by three birds and they opened the container in my hand and started going crazy.  I was able to smuggle the other container to Lance before they opened it as well, and he gave it to Evelyn. Not pictured are two birds that landed on Addi's head, and Addi freaking out.  Obviously the birds are super friendly and nothing to be scared of...I guess they just really like people, and REALLY like the food.

 At one point I had seven on me.

 Ev did awesome, and loved every minute even with one grooming her the whole time.

 Two birds waiting above the entrance to ambush the next group.

 This was definitely a fun place (even with the weird goats), and worth going again. Now all the girls want for christmas is a baby deer and a lorikeet. Not sure Santa will be able to swing that one.