A trip to the Licon Dairy Petting Zoo

Sammy's runny nose had slowed to a trickle, and he was showing a lot more vim and vigor, so I decided to take advantage of some of the lovely weather we've been having lately.  I loaded up the diaper bag and got Sammy situated in the car and we headed off to the Licon Dairy in San Elizario, Texas, a small town about thirty minutes southeast of downtown El Paso.

The Licon Dairy operates a small petting zoo that is open to the public free of charge; after the success of our trip to the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, I figured Sammy would have a great time getting up close and personal with all of the assorted animals.  There was a pretty wide range of animals at the petting zoo--ostriches, donkeys, peacocks, and a camel to name just a few; however, I was surprised that a dairy petting zoo didn't have a single cow to be seen, but maybe that's just me.

There was also a little playground area that had seen better days, but it's appearance didn't deter Sammy from trying his hand at the tether ball for a bit; he just kept hitting it and saying "ball!" over and over again.  I think I may have to attach a ball to a string in our backyard since it seems to keep him so happily occupied.

All of the animals were very friendly and would come right up to the fence begging for treats; unfortunately we didn't really have anything for them to snack on (apparently we should have gone into the dairy's small shop on our way in rather than on our way out--they had free bags of corn for the kids to feed to the animals).  Being the resourceful mom that I am, I noticed that someone had dropped bunch of corn on the ground, so I showed Sammy how to pick them up and feed them to the patiently waiting deer and goats. I was actually surprised at how well Sammy did with the animals, but I suppose he's learned from having a cat for a big sister.