This morning Rick and I took Makai for a long walk around the very long “block” in Karley and Ian’s neighbourhood. It really isn’t a block, it’s much longer and the neighbourhood is really a community; a mixture of small farms with pockets of executive housing throughout. On our way we came across a couple of the farms with a variety of farm animals, much to Makai’s delight.

Our first animal encounter came in the form of a large turkey and about 18 “poults” or baby turkeys which Makai was quite fascinated by. The same farm also had a variety of ducks and geese though they were not as curious and they stayed back in the pond. As we walked I noticed that the ditches along the road were lined with blackberry bushes and some of the fruit was ready for picking and so we did. Makai enjoyed his morning snack of berries as we continued our walk and we could barely keep up with his demand!

The next array of animals to meet us were a small herd of sheep and a single llama, evidently there to protect the sheep from predators (most likely the coyotes that have been attacking the neighbourhood cats). We stopped and gave the llama a little scratch on her neck (which she really enjoyed) because she reminded us a great deal of the llamas we once had at our bed & breakfast. Though Makai was in his stroller and the llama couldn’t reach him, he enjoyed watching our interaction just the same. We continued to pick berries all the way home and by the time we returned to the house almost an hour and a half later, Makai had fallen asleep in his stroller full of fruit and exhausted from his “walk”.