We started out with a visit to the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray with my dad, Uncle Tom and Leo. The first animal we saw was a bobcat.
Then the boys spied this huge bear sculpture.
The boys had to have their pictures taken in the bear cut-out. Henry made his mean bear face and then told Leo to do the same. 
Leo just grinned away. 
And then we saw three real bears! They were much more active than the bears at the Houston Zoo, so they boys loved them.
Leo was really only interested in seeing the moose, so we found the moose enclosures early on. This is George. 
Once Leo saw his moose, he was ready to go home. We managed to keep him interested for a little while longer (there are so many animals at the park!), but pretty soon, we were down to just our family of four. 
We saw eagles, owls, falcons, turkeys and peacocks in the bird area. 
And then we walked down to the fish hatchery. Can you see Will dragging a stick all along the road? Boys + sticks!
That Sunday in July also happened to be Open Farm Day, when farms all across the state of Maine opened their doors to the public so that we could get a little taste of farm life. What a great idea! We toured Pineland Farms in New Gloucester and started off visiting the cows. 
And then had to stop to smell, er, blow the dandelions. 
The boys gathered some rocks "for my collection." I told them I was not carrying a suitcase full of rocks back to Texas, so they gamely put those rocks in their pockets and ran up the road holding onto their pockets so those rocks wouldn't bruise their little legs!
When we reached the top of the hill, we found the chicken coop. We even got to go inside. We lasted all of 30 seconds
because these two chickens started pecking away at my foot and bag! They didn't bother me but the boys were freaked out.
The piggies were less nibbly. 
Then the boys found a slide at the farm. 
Down the road at a nearby sheep farm, we got to watch a farmer shear this lamb. She was not happy and baa-ed loudly the whole time. We did get to pet her at the end. You could feel the lanolin on your hands!
We also visited an alpaca farm before heading back to Portland. Aplacas don't have lanolin but their wool is still very soft.
And a few days later, when we stopped at L.L. Bean in Freeport, Will drew a bobcat 
and a moose on the big chalkboards at the store. 
Bobcats and moose and bears, oh my!
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