When Jordan bought the farm in Harpursville back in 2013, Big Maxx became the first animal on the grounds - but the couple has photos of Colleen posing with Big Maxx before she and Jordan even met. So did Colleen. The farm happened to be along her route to the school where she served as a student teacher. Jordan, 33, and Colleen, 31, were married in 2014. More than a decade before that, Jordan began visiting Big Maxx the camel at a nearby farm.
#HOW OLD IS AVA MAX PATCH#
Before them is a future still clouded by uncertainty.Īt the beginning of the Patch family story, there isn't a giraffe. It came a week behind schedule - and after the turmoil of the last five months, it's no small wonder that it came at all.įor Jordan, today also brings a moment that means more than a hundred opening days ever could.īehind the Patch family lies a months-long cycle of joy transformed into terror, relief dimmed by persistent fear over the health of their firstborn child. Minutes before, Jordan slid open the barn door to the gift shop and greeted the line of visitors assembled for opening day of Animal Adventure's fourth season. “Hey, baby,” he says, resting a hand on his daughter’s back. Colleen cups it with gentle fingers as Jordan crosses the pathway and bends in close. On the back of Ava's head, a long scar curves in a crescent beneath baby-fine hair. She opens her eyes, and they're all Jordan - dark and bold. The 4-month-old has her mother's nose, they think, and dimples from them both. Jordan's wife, Colleen, lifts the sleeping baby as she begins to stir. She's just over there, lying beneath the navy blue canopy of the stroller as Jordan slips a carrot to Oliver the giraffe on a muggy morning in late May.