#44 Hugging Alpacas and A Very Special Gift

This is a two-parter....two unrelated but adjacent stories.

PART ONE:

Let's start with today's Badass Adventure at Golden Spirit Alpaca Ranch where Cindy, Jason, Zee and Ellen joined me for a special Alpaca tour.

We got some good educational content teaching us about the history of Alpacas in America the value of their fleece (check out the "before and after" picture during shearing time) specific health needs and their behavior (they get offended super easy).

I learned that when an alpaca is giving birth, the head comes out first and then the mother starts walking around the yard, with the half-delivered baby swaying back and forth -- this goes on for 20 minutes or so until he finally plops out on the ground. And we learned that alpaca have absolutley no natural defense mechanisms,but that they might spit at each other if they get a little pissed at something a friend is doing, and humans might get caught in the cross-fire. But that's about it. Oh...and they really don't like having their heads touched. And they have no top teeth in the front, and their bottom teeth are used for scooping up food and continuously grow. And they don't like to lie down to sleep but they do love to sun bathe.

Pretty nifty dudes.

So here's how the tour went. We went into a pen. The owner released the alpaca into the pen. We fed them. We tried to get selfies but that was next to impossible. And we desperately tried to keep from throwing our arms around these super fluffy, gentle little beasts. Because apparently, doing so offends them and they might decide to go pout in the corner and ignore you the rest of the session.

So without further ado, here are some of my faovrite pics from the day.

And yes, I witnessed a spitting attack when Johnny tried to take the food from Raspberry.

But as thing go, the absolute funniest times were spent in the gift shop.

Love you guys so freaking much! Can't wait for next weekend's adventure. :)

PART TWO

Now on to the second part of my story.

As I have mentioned earlier, I owe my parents for my sense of adventure and my love of the beach. But I owe them so much more than that. I try every single day to be as good a parent to Emily and Oliver as they are to me.

I was at their house a couple of days ago, and Mom had a book on the table for me. It's a book that we started pre-pandemic where my Aunt Holly, Mom and I took turns completing pages and would send it back and forth to each other.

But this time, when mom passed it to me, she said, "It's done, and it's yours to keep forever". I didn't quite understand, because this doodle journal will ALWAYS have more room to keep adding on, so I as a little surprised she was ready for it to be over.

When I got home and opened it up, I realized why.

She and Aunt Holly had filled it up until it was bursting with memories.

The entire book was packed with love.

This truly is one of the most loving gifts I have ever received in my life, and I have thank my talented, thoughtful, funny, wise, and lovely Mom and Aunt for gifting this to me.

Both these ladies are teachers (at heart, and in real life), artists, poets, musicians, and writers.

(Shout out to Aunt Holly who just published her second book:

They filled the journal up with drawings, sketches and nature photos:

They had pages talking about the Pandemic and what they learned and did through it:

And of course included the "Getty Museum Pandemic Challenge" that we all played (from a distance) with trying to recreate famous pieces of art:

They included family legends and inside jokes:

They reminisced about their childhoods and included photos of them as they were growing up.

They included pages and pages of family memories from when I was growing up. These included pictures with our families together on Cape Cod and our weeklong canoe trips up in Maine.

They included beautiful pages of Emily, Oliver and Marshmallow.

And they did ones that were just about me.

...With some pictures that show that my love for the ocean, my tomboyish nature, my stubborn attitude (as evidenced by the red dress), and my rebellious spirit (the lollipop wedged in my mouth while wearing my "Sunday Best") has stayed the same.

And it ended with a page where they celebrated this past year of growth for me.

Do you think Aunt Holly and Mom understand how much they have influenced who I am as a person and that THEY are the original BADASS ladies of the family?

I love you both so much. Thank you for this amazing gift. I will always treasure it. xoxoxoxo