Ostrich Farm at Piccacho Peak

Dear Castillo Children,

Hello my loves! This weeks seems like a blur for some reason. I blame the late nights I have been having for no reason whatsoever. I just need to go to bed earlier.

Monday we did our normal day of cleaning the house and playing in the playroom. I have to admit, cleaning and de-junking the playroom has been the smartest thing I have done in a while. We are always in there now. Seeing all the toys and knowing where they go when we are done is huge. Getting rid of the ones we really didn't play with and putting away the ones that were for babies has helped so much. I'll have to do that every six months. Having my girls play in there instead of bugging me is priceless! :)

Nora developed a little fever later in the day and I gave her some medicine and she was able to take a nap. I was concerned since she kept saying that her head hurt. I don't know if this is the first time she has been able to articulate where the pain was, but she has never said that before and it kind of scared me. The problem was we had a big field trip with her preschool the next day so I really hoped she would feel well enough to do it. And that created it's own drama. We were going with another preschool group and although Nora was fine the next morning, one of the mom's in the other group is very against letting your kids go somewhere sick. She said that a fever is a precursor for something serious and perhaps I shouldn't go. She has been sick the last month so I can't really blame her for being too cautious.

Nora was so sad about staying home that I had to make a decision. I decided that since I didn't really have a good reason to explain why we can't go to my 3 year old, I decided we should just go and have fun. I still regret not going to the Renaissance Festival because Annalise threw up. She was fine the whole rest of the day.  I had told Nora about it and she was disappoint she couldn't go. The mom left it up to me whether I thought Nora was well enough to go. I told the other mom I would wave at her from across the way and avoid her if she's fine with me still coming.

We drove up to Piccacho Peak and we had SO much fun! I loved the little Ostrich Farm that they have there. We got to ride in this monster truck and do a tour of the farm.

 

The large monster truck

 

 

Nora sitting in one of the truck's tires

 



We learned all about ostriches and got to see where they laid their nest. I learned that if you see a male ostrich with red shins and a red beak they are in their mating season and are extremely aggressive. We weren't allowed near them. They were really cool, though!

Nora holding an egg. It was really heavy!

 

 

We got to ride around and learned about the area. I learned how to properly avoid snakes and about cacti. My friend's husband, Ryan, who was the doctor who took out the cactus needles in my arm was on the tour, too. He turned to me and said he could show me the difference between a Saguaro and barrel cactus needles. I'm pretty sure I still have some still in there.

The Three Amigos Cactus

 

 

We went on some big bumps and we were sitting in the back of the truck so we felt every bump! Nora was a little scared by it and wanted to sit in my lap. Annalise was annoyed every time I held on to her. You girls are so different in your thrill seeking ways.

 

Annalise liked the bumps!

 

They ended the tour with something they call ostrich fishing. There were poles set up with orange slices. Each person got to have their own pole, held the orange slices over the fence and feed the ostriches. We only feed the females since the males are grumpy right now.

 

Annalise fishing for an ostrich

Nora trying to get an ostrich to bite. Then she dropped the pole...(it happens a lot they said. She wasn't the only one to lose her pole)

 

After fishin'!

 

After the tour was over we were given a lot of feed to feed animals in their little feeding area.

 

They feed donkeys,

 

And deer... (I told them that Grandma had a deer as a pet when she was a girl but that seemed confusing to them.) :)

 

Goats in this weird high rise thing. You put food on the belts and lifted up to them.

 

I couldn't tell if Annalise was delighted by the ostriches or scared. Probably some of both.

 

They feed ground hogs peanuts (which was hilarious watching them fight over the food)

 

And they feed ducks. But I said the ducks bite you, but I was told by someone who worked there that they "kiss" you. Yeah. That's no kiss. Annalise didn't like them.

 

 

The best part I have to say about feeding the animals was giving these beautiful birds nectar. You would hold out these little cups with nectar and the birds would land on you and open up the cups. If you tried to pet them or open the cups for them they weren't nice, but they happily sat on you. It was the coolest thing!

 

 

They happily sat on my head

 

Nora had to be helped by someone who worked there

 

She was a little nervous about the birds

 

This is as close as I could get Annalise to them

 

They were such pretty birds!

 

Nora and Annalise with two boys from Nora's preschool group, Chase and Lincoln

 

It was a lot of fun and I'm SO glad we went. I didn't even really see that mom that was concerned about Nora being sick so everyone was happy.

 

 

Wednesday I was going to make cheese but had the hardest time finding rennet tablets. Called Fry's, they said no. Called several different place and finally found one way up on the north side of Tucson. Went to Fry's a few days later. Yeah, they totally had some. All those calls for nothing. At least I learned about a food co-op called the Food Conspiracy and a place where you can brew your own beer. Random.

 

Thursday Nora did preschool and we just hung out...and the same thing for Friday except Todd was home to hang out with us. I was going to paint the laundry room, but sitting on my butt sounded better. So I picked that. :) I did got to my writing group on Friday. I got to read two of my scenes I had written over the month. I was so nervous to share! It was well received and I felt a lot of courage from that. We had weird weather while I was reading my play, it started to hail. Our weather has been so weird this year! But I really got some great feed back and I'm really enjoying the writing process and my group of women. I tried to share my scenes with Todd but he tried to give me suggestions on it even before I read a word to him. He'll have to wait for the finished play before he gets to read it.

 

I've been getting headaches a lot lately. I'm not sure if it's allergies or cutting gluten out of my diet. I think it's a little of both. I miss gluten. I keep eating it. I'm not even sure if that is what is wrong. I plan to make an appointment with an allergist on Monday. Something is messed up in my body, that's for sure. However, I loved having lettuce wraps and spaghetti squash for dinner this week.

 

Today Annalise, Nora and I stayed home from church because they have a slight cough. I think Todd was being overly cautious. That's fine. We played, had choir here and then were invited over to the Workman's home for dinner. (He's the doctor that pulled the cactus needles out of my arm) It was his birthday so we play at their house and ate dinner with them and some other friends. It was a very pleasant evening.

 

Love you girls! I'm glad we had a nice day today (except when you put shampoo in each other's hair and your friend Tylee's head while we were having choir. But it save us time since we got home late tonight. We figured you already had your bath for the day. )

 

 

With All My Love,

 

Your Mother