Emus, Yaks and Water Buffalo - O My!

The girl loves a camera!

Perm gone bad.

My two favorite exotic animals.

We had to go to Durham this past week to have our fingerprints redone. That was our fourth time in four years; it's now a pilgrimage! After 2.5 hours waiting ever-so-patiently in the immigration office, we were free to enjoy the rest of the week away from home and work.

While we were out and about, we decided to head over towards Charlotte to the Lazy 5 Ranch: amusement and terror all rolled into one. Hope had a wonderful time feeding the animals on the hay ride as long as she could sit in the middle of the wagon and keep her distance. She held her feed bucket closely, guarding it with one cocked eyebrow from the other kids on the ride. (Clearly all of my lessons on sharing have paid off)

While Hope could have spent all day petting those bleeting billy goats, I preferred staring at the mewing lemurs. David was pretty partial to the swarthy water buffalo.

And then there were those that could impale you.

And those that could swallow you whole if you didn't shove enough food in their mouths first.

All in all, a pleasant, germ-free day on the ranch.