This time of year, we look forward to a special Hopekids event at a cowboy ranch. This year, it was hosted by Flying-E Ranch in Wickenburg. The host ranch always goes to great lengths to bring fun experiences to the kids and their families.

This time, there was an unusual petting zoo! They told us that this racoon is a TV and Movie star. If a show has had a racoon in it recently, it was probably him.

He is awfully cute!

I don’t think this skunk was famous, but he was fuzzy!

I have never pet a fox before!

We got a private wagon ride around the trails

The horseback riding is what the boys come for, especially Brendan! He would have stayed all day to be sure to ride each one if he could.

A young cowboy tried to teach Brendan how to use a lasso

Back to the petting zoo for some more typical animal encounters – Goats!

This part made Trevor’s day. He would LOVE to have a pet snake!

This is a Gopher snake and a happy child!

Brendan loved holding it too!

They wanted to put it into a pocket and take it home!

Then they met this big bearded dragon and they wanted one of those too!

Especially one that would perch on your head!

We appreciate all of the volunteers, Flying-E Ranch, Hopekids, and the Phoenix Herpetological Society!

Hot tub time for swimming while it is too cool for pools

Have you ever seen anyone get so wrinkly?

Getting a pre-check for anesthesia at the pediatrician. Brendan still fits in the toybox!

As part of the testing that we have been doing with the Immunologist/Allergist, Brendan had a basic scratch test done for allergies. Dogs, cats, most common grasses and trees. He did not react to any of them, so he has that working for him!

We are trying to make the most of the weekends while the weather is so nice. This is a quick overnight trip in to California.

This is not your ordinary RV Park..

This is the General George S. Patton Memorial Museum, or as Trevor knows it, the tank museum. There are free dry camping spots in the lot behind the tanks.

The road in to the RV lot was made of this cracked flaky mud

It is hard to see in the photo, but the thin top layer of mud had curled up like paper in to little rolls. Trevor found it fascinating.

I was amused by the way this cactus was growing through the chain link

I already have several posts with pictures inside this museum, so I didn’t take any new ones but this.

We were able to walk to the main road and have dinner at a little truck stop restaurant. I had hoped to do some night sky photography, but it was really cold and windy and I chickened out. The sky was slightly overcast, so it wasn’t worth the suffering!