Wildpark Poing

On Kate's last day of being 3, the girls and I decided to have an adventure to a wildlife park!

We took the train (of course) and had a 25 minute walk from the train to the entrance  of the park...but these girls are troopers now!

Inside the park was amazing...all sorts of deer, elk, rams, goats, pigs, buffalo, donkey's falcons, owls, eagles, ducks, cranes, racoons, and so much more!

From the little kiosk machine, the girls each got their own box of food for the animals...

The first few animals, they fed through a fence...not too scary, but still took some nerve.

And then, we crossed over to the unfenced area where the animals know EXACTLY what those green boxes mean!  We had to hide the boxes and discreetly put food in our hands in order to not get mobbed by the large, gentle creatures.

All you hunters out there, would have been drooling...

Yes, that is MY hand...

The big girls took off running after having fed several of the deer...

While a few of them just kept following us, trying to make friends and get a few more bites of snack :)

The area was beautiful.  And of course, there were PLAYGROUNDS! Several of them, all around the picnic table area.  The girls loved it!

The park opened as a wildlife refuge sometime in the late 1800's.  Based on the amount of moss on this table, I think it's been here since the beginning!

As you know, we eat a lot of soft pretzels here.  And we love them.  Apparently, the guinea pigs do too!

Kate sees this big guy resting in the shade.
"Mom, I want to feed THAT one!"
I'm thinking, "Oh dear.  Oh DEER!!  I'm not sure I want you feeding that one!"
But, to her credit - and Val's, they gently approached him together and he happily stood up for a little snack from these two.

It was a beautiful day and the animals were amazing!  Some really unique ones and some great experiences with rather common ones.  Fun way to spend Kate's last day of being three!