Brotherly Rivalries, Sisterly Love

Yesterday the 49ers played the Cowboys.  Dominic is a 49ers fan, and his brother is a Cowboys fan.  So they agreed to meet halfway between San Diego and LA to watch the game together.  I knew the girls wouldn't be happy sitting in a sports bar for the entirety of the game, so I looked online for stuff to do somewhere in the middle.  I came across Zoomars in San Juan Capistrano.  It is a petting zoo that has been around for 30 years.  They have everything from goats, sheep and ponies to alpacas, emus, and a couple of mule zebras.  So we headed north and met up with Richard and Nicole at Buffalo Wild Wings to have lunch.  We hung out, Audrey ate her weight in french fries and potato wedges, Eliza mooched some flatbread pizza with chicken, spinach and artichokes... and then their food came!  Eliza was super excited about her mini corn dogs - she did have fruit and milk as well, in an attempt at some healthy food in a sports bar.  Dom and I were happy to have wings - Mmmmm!  Love me some B-dubs!  As the game got underway, the girls and I headed  out to find Zoomars.

We went in, and headed straight to the main petting zoo area with the goats and a couple sheep nuzzling right up to us for some carrots.  I was surprised how well Eliza did, usually she drops the food on the ground when the animal gets close.

Audrey ran from goat to goat, feeding them all the food we had as fast as I could hand it to her.  She was so happy!  It was all about the speed for her - petting each animal and moving to the next one - but the big smile on her face the whole time said it all.

Some animals were around the fence just outside the main area, but still accessible, and definitely hungry.

Audrey tried to feed the sheep some lettuce, but they only seemed to want carrots.

Checking out the turkey.

Then we moved over to a smaller petting area full of bunnies, guinea pigs, and a couple small chickens.

Audrey wasn't shy at all, she went over to another little boy with a bunny in his arms and started petting it.  He was nice enough to put the bunny down on this bunny statue so they could both pet it.

Eliza only wanted to hold a guinea pig.  She was excited to see them since they look a little bit like her zhu zhu pets.  I grabbed one from under a bench and had her sit down to hold it on her lap.  Thankfully, she hasn't asked us for one yet...

Then we did the pony ride.

Audrey really did like it, even though she is so serious looking.

The girls passing each other - Eliza waving to Audrey.

Eliza loved it!  She said later that it was her favorite part.

We went back to the bunnies and guinea pigs after getting some more lettuce to feed them.  Eliza wanted to hold a bunny this time.

The bunny didn't want to stay on Eliza's lap, but thankfully it stayed there for a while with the lettuce instead of just hopping off the bench.

My girls on the bunny statue.

My favorite part was watching the girls feed these adorable little baby guinea pigs.  We almost missed them since they're behind the other area.  We had to get the lettuce really small to fit it through the fencing, but it lasted for a while then.

We sped through to say bye to the goats and sheep...

checked out the emu, which was sleeping when we saw it the first time...

and said our goodbyes to the ponies as well.

We made it back to Buffalo Wild Wings for the last 20-30 minutes of the game.  Unfortunately, it was Richard who got to gloat at the end, as the Cowboys won in overtime 27-24.  Still a fun trip, and we were happy to see Richard and Nicole too!