A Day at the Point

A few days after Audrey, Luke, and I had returned from our trip to California we went to Thanksgiving Point. For those of you who do not know Thanksgiving Point is kind of a cool little place. They have extensive grounds on which they host all sorts of cool things throughout the year. Cool things like a Tulip Festival in their garden section. Cool things like a Highland Games / Scottish Festival. Cool things like concerts, symphonies, and other musical events. And the list of attractions and events goes on and on and on and on. And on. They also have more permanent things like a glass blower's studio and a bunch of different galleries, the largest dinosaur exhibit around, and really nice facilities for any special occasion (wedding receptions, birthdays, anniversary parties, etc.)

On that day (a few days after we got back from California), we all went to "The Point" to walk through their Farm Country exhibit - like a large petting zoo without too much petting. I thought Audrey would get a kick out of all of the animals.

When we arrived, there was a large water feature/sculpture right in the main entrance corridor. It looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. Right up Audrey's alley. It was brightly painted in primarily primary colors, with lots of piping and moving parts. Right up Audrey's alley. It had lots of levers that you could pull and push and each one did something - made a noise or sprayed water or whistled. Again, right up Audrey's alley.

Here's Grammy dodging a spray of water after engaging one of the levers:

Curious what other obstacles the feature had to throw at her, Brave Grammy taking one for the team again.

The official verdict: Audrey loved it.


I liked it too and I wanted to make sure to capture some memories from the day. So I whipped out my camera and tried my best to get my two cuties to smile for the camera.


They didn't.



In fact I couldn't even get them to look at the camera. Let alone smile while looking at the camera.

I couldn't even get Luke's attention. Audrey's apparently been giving him lessons on how to avoid looking at the camera and thwart mom's attempts to document their happy childhood.


C'est la vie.


We saw all sorts of animals. Goats, chickens, peacocks, turkeys, pigs, horses, cows, ducks, geese, rabbits, llamas, donkeys, alpacas, and a bunch of other things in between.


There was even a part of the area that had mini old west buildings: a dance hall and a jail where little kids can go inside and play.

So she went in and played like she was in jail. Except she's so small that Grammy had to lift her up to be able to see out of the barred windows.


Her crime?

Not looking at the freakin' camera when her mom is trying to document her happy childhood.


Again.


Story of my life.



Audrey's cousin got in on the action too. His name is Ammon and his crime is he is too cute for words.

Oh, and also he's got the coolest hair ever. Double offender. That's serious stuff.





As cool as the animals and the water feature and the jail were, the highlight was definitely the pony ride. They had a covered pavilion where they had about eight ponies and small horses hooked up to a rotating thingy so children could go for a ride if they wanted. I took Audrey over and asked if she wanted to ride one of the horses and she said no. I asked her about four times and each time she refused. (It was between rides and the horses were just standing still with no children in their saddles.)

Then we went over to another part of the exhibit and after a few minutes returned to just watch the horses (who, this time, were in the middle of a ride - each one had a rider and a lot of the riders looked to be around Audrey's age/size). Seeing her peers riding safely (and with smiles on their faces) must have bolstered her confidence, because when I asked her one more time if she would like to ride one of the horses, this time it was a resounding and excited yes. In fact, her yes was followed by one of her famous "Audgie's turn!" command. So I let her pick which pony she wanted to ride - the prettiest light colored brown horse with blond hair.

Naturally I wanted to snap a few pictures.


Can you blame me? I mean, seriously?

Apparently, she learned nothing from the hard time she served in kiddie jail.


Me: "Audrey! Hey! Yoo-Hoo! Over here. Look at mommy, please! (waving left arm frantically while holding camera in right hand, finger on the trigger - I mean button) Audrey! Look at the camera! C'mon!"

Audrey: nothing. Not a flinch or any other indication she can even hear me.


Stinker.

Stin-ker.

Aaaahhhh... success! Yes!



...And then the ride started. I told Audrey she needed to hang on to the horn of the saddle. The horses were going slow but still a bumpy sort of rhythm for a two and a half year old's very first time riding any kind of live animal. She did a great job. She didn't even need me. But I was there (with a firm grip on her sweater and dress) just in case.


She had so much fun. I loved watching the joy and excitement on her face.

It was a great day in the "Country"!

And now one of Audrey's favorite things to do is watch the short video clip that I took of her very first pony ride.