Our day started with a visit to the local farm, where you can reserve a spot to be in a group that feeds the farm animals in the morning. The two little girls have done this before, and they love doing it. A had never experienced it before, so we booked this day for them all to help out. These days only happen once every month or two, so we've been waiting to go for some time now.
The morning started with feeding the chickens, ducks and even some peacocks.
Those Muscovy ducks are a little intimidating
But they also were confident enough to eat right out of your hand
Next came mealtime for the two pigs, Hamlet and Rachel. The guy who was leading the group did a great job of explaining what they were eating and why. The girls got to see that pigs have different tastes, just like we do, and while Rachel was happiest eating the piggy pellets, Hamlet went nuts for the zucchini.
After the piggies were all fed and full, it was time to turn to the goats. They have three different breeds of goats: one has long, droopy ears, one has tiny little stubby ears, and one has ears that are kinda in between. Their names are Mathilda Milkshake, Mrs. Oldie Sour Cream, and Emma Crema Friday. Very elaborate names for goats, don't you think?
Now that all the small farm animals were fed and happy, we ventured out to the big animal area to feed some of the larger sheep and goats, and to avoid the big domestic turkeys out there (who are very aware how scared the kids are of them, and know that a scared kid means dropped food!) It was a little harder to feed those big animals through the fence, but the kids did the best they could. Before we left the area, the farmer showed us a brand new pygmy chick that had hatched the day before. He was so unbelievably tiny and the girls were thrilled to get the chance to pet him.
Just look how tiny he is next to those little pebbles and sticks. The mother hen is about half the size of a normal chicken.
The cool thing about this farm park is that they have a huge grassy hill and a big playground, so you can really spend the whole day picnicking, walking around, and admiring the endless supply of chickens, ducks and peacocks that roam freely around the grounds (including the parking lot). But today we had to drag the girls away because we made plans to also visit the DeYoung museum in San Francisco. I thought it might be something fun to do with Mike, and I got two for one tickets (the girls were free), so it's kind of hard to argue with museum admission for only $11 for 5 people. We've never been there before, so we were curious what all the fuss was about.
I wasn't expecting to be able to have too much time to look around the place because art museums aren't typically a place my girls like to be for hours on end, but then we hit the jackpot with a girl who was offering little walkman-type devices where you could type in the number assigned to a piece of art and hear more information about it on your headphones, like a tour with your very own tour guide who only tells you about the paintings you're interested in. I wasn't sure if the girls would really make good use of the things, but I was pleasantly surprised to see them darting around each room, searching for the numbers in the blue circles (the blue numbers were the kid's version for some of the pieces of art. There were fewer blue numbers than red 'adult' versions, but it was a nice and very appreciated offering).
K even listened to the tour guide all through lunch, randomly typing numbers into her device and listening to information about paintings and things she hadn't even seen yet. It was funny to see her walk through the upstairs gallery after lunch and say, "Hey, I know about that painting!" Her and A probably got more out of the museum than Mike and I even did. Sometimes they would "parrot" the information they were hearing to tell me about the paintings or photos we were looking at. That was definitely the best $14 I've ever spent!
the fern garden
It looks like I was trying to take some fancy, artistic shot, but that huge piece of wall art was actually out of focus. We stared at it for a long time, experimenting with walking past it and noticing how we could feel our eye muscles trying to bring it into focus. Here in this photograph it actually looks like it's shrinking into itself a bit.
An interesting castle made entirely of guns, bullets, shot, steel, and glass, with a little bit of creepiness added in the form a tooth and some bones. It was supposed to be a political and religious statement, but I thought it was just really creative!
A collection of snow 'goggles' made of wood and animal skins by native Alaskans, long before sunglasses were cool.
One of A's favorite things - crystal raindrops hanging from the ceiling and casting cool shadows on the wall in this open, two-story room
After we had seen every room and just about every piece of art in the museum (including the giant safety pin outside on the lawn), we headed up to the observatory for a bird's-eye view of the city. The girls were a little disappointed that we couldn't really see anything they recognized, like the bridges or the Coit Tower, which were blocked by other hills, although we were able to see the 'growing roof' of the California Academy of Sciences across the street, which they recognized right away.
As we headed out of the museum, I turned the exact opposite direction than the way I should have turned to go home, which if you know me very well or have ridden in the car with me often, will say is completely normal for me. At any rate, we ended up on Skyline and caught sight of some hang-gliders (for some reason, I always thought it was "hand-gliders", but it's actually "hang-gliders", who knew?) We pulled over and parked to watch them soar around and land and take-off. We were all pretty tired by that point, and it was a little windy and cold up there, but that's ok, because it turns out that you can watch them just as easily while you're sitting in the car. :)
Looks a little scary, doesn't it?
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