Things to Do in Austin: Tiny Tails to You Petting Zoo (Fall Edition).

Yeah, yeah, I've written about them before here. And maybe here. But we like to go as often as we can, and there is clearly a reason for that: we love Tiny Tails to You Petting Zoo!

I was joking with the owner, the very wonderful Chelsea Phillips, that I always come with Ava and a different child, and that really does speak to the fact that we just can't say enough good things about the experience.

As always, it starts with an applicable story for storytime. This time, we read A Boy and His Bunny and Bark, George! - both of which were adorable stories! We definitely are adding those to the Christmas/Birthday list!!!

After that, it's time to get right to it and hop into the fenced in area with the animals for the hands-on, petting zoo portion! So fun! Ava always adores the animals, and one mom even commented how brave and compassionate she was, holding each of them and cuddling them up to her! Aww!

My sweet, sweet girl :)

After we've spent a good twenty minutes in the pen, we come back out and do an animal-related craft, which has ranged from putting together pre-cut shapes to form an animal (a lion or elephant, etc), to a coloring page with sequins, etc. We still have all four or five that we've made this year on her bulletin board in her room because she loves them so much!

Have YOU been to Tiny Tails to You Petting Zoo and Storytime yet? If not, what are you waiting for? They've expanded their days and locations to include Westlake, Pflugerville and Round Rock, as well as the centrally located BookPeople that we frequent, so there should certainly be one to fit your schedule! You can view their full schedule of events on their website above!

Introducing...

....Babs! (or Babette, technically :P)

About Babs:

Babs is a Netherland Dwarf Rabbit, and even though she is only 10 weeks old, she's full grown at 2.5 pounds! She's also very soft and quite fluffy, hence her big appearance for her weight :)

Her favorite treat is bananas:

She loves to give kisses:

She shares Ava's fascination with Aladdin:

Only one family member doesn't adore her:

...but that's ok. The rest of us do!

As for Sundress, it turns out that wild rabbits cannot be domesticated - it's impossible - so after consulting with the petting zoo where we re-homed the other wild rabbits and a vet, we were advised to let her free in the wild. Ava was a great sport about it, though a bit sad, and so we adopted one of the petting zoo bunnies instead! Sundress now lives on the Brushy Creek Greenbelt with her "family", and is much happier :)

Vacation Week Recap.

It's Friday night. You know what that means? Time to par-tay! Wait. No. That's not it. Maybe five years ago, yes, but tonight, well, I'm holed up on the couch, laptop, phone and remote all within reach. I'm catching up on the season finale of Scandal (side note: if you're not watching that show, you NEED to be. SO GOOD!), sorting through pictures, and eating leftover wedding cake. And you know what? That's about the best Friday night I can imagine :)

I haven't been the best with posting this week, and for once, I can't say anything about being too busy. In fact, I've been on vacation from my "main" job, and I let that mindset carry on into my screen time as well, mainly unplugging. While I'd like to say that was mainly my idea, part of the reason I've been unplugged is because last Friday, while in the parking lot of a Chuck E. Cheese to attend a four-year-old's birthday party, I slammed my finger in the door of my car, breaking it and causing a huge (and incredibly painful) build-up of blood underneath my fingernail, all of which has made typing difficult, to say the least. Thankfully, a doctor's visit, a finger splint and a week have made a big difference, and the pain has mainly subsided.

We had a great week off, even though I still had to work afternoons at my second job. It was so fantastic to be able to not have to get Ava out of bed before she's ready in the mornings, and to not be rushing constantly. We spent many a great day hanging out in the backyard, enjoying the fabulous weather and our awesome new backyard sandbox, as well as had a chance to host playgroup at our house (an experience that was not in line with my vacation mindset and will not be repeated my next week off - ha!). Check out some pics of this week:

Hosting playgroup (with twelve children!):

Fun in the sun!

We caught up with our old friend Bevo at the Tiny Tails to You petting zoo story time:

We also said goodbye to three of our four bunnies that day, when the petting zoo agreed to take them in as rescues :) We're so happy they now have a good home, but we were sad to see them go! We did keep one, though. More on her later!

Ava rode around on her bike. In her swimsuit. In our kitchen. Whatevs.

We did a bit of swimming, one of our faves!

All this vacation-ing left someone a wee bit sleepy :)

All in all, we had a fantastic week! There were a few hiccups - the broken finger, followed by an allergic reaction to an antibiotic I was prescribed that left my tongue swollen to the point of being blistered and my gums and lips numb, but at least it wasn't allowed to get worse and I was safe :) Those two things aside, though, this week was simply lovely. The only bad part of vacation is when it's over, and I'm definitely feeling a bit of the back-to-work-blues. Oh, to be able to stay at home. Someday....

Hope everyone had a great week as well! Back to regular blogging and blog reading this coming week!

Tiny Tails to You Petting Zoo Storytime at BookPeople.

Have I mentioned lately that I have the best moms group in the world? Seriously. They have the best ideas for things to do with the little ones, and I have met some of the greatest ladies, not to mention some great playmates for little A!

Anyhow, I had the good fortune to take Ava to our local bookstore, BookPeople, where a local traveling petting zoo called Tiny Tails held a petting zoo storytime. Ava loved it. LOVED. They had an orange guinea pig named Bevo, and Ava charmed the pants off the guy in charge of the animals when he said the guinea pig's name and she shouted "Hook Ems!" She had him wrapped around her finger by the time we left :) I, on the other hand, left my heart with a teeny tiny baby hedgehog! OMG - had I been allowed, I would've slipped the baby into my pocket and taken it home. Did you know that baby hedgehogs live underneath their mother for the first three weeks of their life? The one we got to meet had only just come out days before!!! So adorable!

Here are some pics. We'll be going back to the next one in a few weeks, although this time it'll be me and FOUR kids. Glad I got to enjoy it the first time - lol!

Baby bunnies! I had a couple growing up, and there may be one in our future, judging by A's reaction!

Bigger bunnies:

Bearded Dragon:

Ava's buddy, Bevo. She's been saying, "Miss Bevo! Miss Bevo! ever since" Aww, she misses him!


Silk Chickens:

Tortoise (Did you know the difference between a tortoise and a turtle is that turtles need to partially live in water to live and tortoises don't? I didn't!)

Awwww - love this little fella!


Ava loves the skyline!


In case the animals weren't awesome enough, we also (true to the story time name), read animal stories, and did an animal themed craft appropriate for toddlers (we made elephants out of pre-cut hearts - too cute!). The cost? $10 and an RSVP. Totally worth it! We can't wait to go back in a few weeks!!!!!