After Bearizona and the Ranch, you’d think we had our fill of animal time – but that’s not possible for the Rookies! So Sunday morning, we went with MomMom & Pa to the Deer Farm. What a cool experience that was!

The Fallow deer were ready and waiting. They are smaller than most deer and are so sweet-natured.

Pa had to be the food guard among the big herd:

Some of them had really perfected the grandchild, “pleeease pa?!”

What a push over good pa! 🙂

They were such cute deer and gentle with us even as they pushed and crowded around haha

AB learned to double fist it:

And RR, animal whisperer, loved every minute:

Even Mommy and MomMom got in on the fun:

And we all had our faves:

The kiddos got kissed by Gracie the camel:

Who’s next ? 🙂

Evelyn’s fave fave fave animal there was the wallaby. She had such a special connection and could have sat there for hours. He just sat there watching her as she fed him grass and figured out how to get through 2 fences to pet him haha.

She had tears in her eyes and hugged me so hard saying “oh mommy I love him”. I know the feeling, girlfriend. I had that yearning for the dolphins when I was little.

So…. Daddy? She changed her mind, she wants a wallaby for Christmas, not a horse .

My fave kangaroo-looking deer were at this farm too! They are the white-tailed Coues, found in Arizona and Mexico. They have smaller bodies but larger ears and tails. Aren’t they so cute?

And look at this amazing reindeer !!! Did you know reindeer and caribou are the same animal? They are “reindeer” when domesticated and “caribou” when wild. Here are some fun facts to share with your kiddos:

• Both male and female reindeer have antlers (though not all females do)
• Their antlers fall off and grow back bigger every year. These shown here only took a few months to grow. That is remarkable isn’t it!?
• Males drop their antlers in November, leaving them without antlers until the following spring, while females keep their antlers through the winter until their calves are born in May.

• Reindeer are covered in hair from their nose to the bottom of their feet (hooves). The hairy hooves may look funny, but they give reindeer a good grip when walking on frozen ground, ice, mud, and snow.

• Reindeer are the only deer species to be widely domesticated. They are used for carrying or farmed for their milk, meat, and hides.
• Santa’s reindeer were first mentioned in 1821 when New York printer William Gilley published a 16-page booklet titled A New Year’s Present to the Little Ones from Five to Twelve, Part III by an anonymous author:Old Santeclaus with much delight
  His reindeer drives this frosty night.
  O’er chimneytops, and tracks of snow,
  To bring his yearly gifts to you.
• Two years later, in 1823, the Troy Sentinel published the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, commonly known as ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. The poem featured eight flying reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh, and for the first time, they are identified by name.

I can’t believe those grew that big in less than 4 months. I love when they are so velvety like that before they are scraped off to smooth.

What a fun visit! We all loved the experience of interacting with the free roaming fallow deer and each of the animals. They also had alpaca and goats and pot bellied pigs and a zonkey but I didn’t catch pics of all those.

On the way home, we saw prairie dogs along the highway!

Animals animals animals everywhere!!!