Farm Day!
Well, we had a great, but exhausting, field trip with our new homeschool group today. We went to a farm in Grinnell, IA. I was able to get a close out digital camera at Walmart yesterday for $19, so we have pictures - yeah! (but you get what you pay for - pictures were fine outdoors - not so great indoors - most really blurry) Anyway, I just spent the last hour and a half uploading all these pics, (darned dialup!) so enjoy. :)
First thing we HAD to do was go on the pony ride.
Then it was off to feed the animals - goats, sheep, donkey, lhamas.
Then we checked out the inside of the big barn...that is where we found the baby chickens that they could hold.
They had a "hay" jump, which was really shredded paper. The kids had a blast jumping into this over and over and over....
Instead of a sand box, there was a corn box. :)
I managed to pry the kids out of the barn without a baby chick and we loaded up on one of the four wagons headed out to the woods for lunch.
After grilling out hot dogs over the campfire, I made a smore for Trinity while Angelina opted for a straight roasted marshmallow.
Photo op before we headed off for a walk in the woods.
The trail took us to a beautiful field.
I let the kids take off their socks and shoes and run barefoot through the grass. That seemed so good I thought, heck, why don't you go tromp through the stream. They enjoyed that even more and quickly managed to thoroughly muddy themselves. :) I figure that is what childhood is for. Why is it that we lose the joy of mud squishing through our fingers and toes when we grow up?
We were having so much fun that we lost track of time until we heard the tractors off in the distance starting up...yeah, we missed the hay ride back to the farmhouse. Fortunately, we were able to catch a ride in the back of one of their utility trucks. After reuniting with our bags and getting the kids changed into clean clothes, it was back to see the baby chicks. They were singing "Rock -a- bye Baby" to the babies. :)
Then we finally went in the chicken coop and found the rabbits that you could hold. They were very happy to sit there endlessly and just hold these bunnies. It was not pretty trying to get them out of there. (sorry - bad indoor photos, but you get the idea at least)
And just when you thought we had done it all, they wanted to tackle Haystack Mountain. Of course our fearless Angelina was up there leaping from bale to bale while Trinity froze up. Eventually, she gave it a try and found out not only could she make the jump, but it was a lot of fun too.
They also climbed up into a tree house and played on swings. Other than that, there really wasn't much to do there....HA! Angelina was out within minutes of getting in the car, but remarkably, miss Trinity stayed awake almost the whole hour+ drive home. I was ready to sleep! And I think I will go do that now that I finally have this post done. Goodnight!
First thing we HAD to do was go on the pony ride.
Then it was off to feed the animals - goats, sheep, donkey, lhamas.
...and let's not forget the baby cows!
Then we checked out the inside of the big barn...that is where we found the baby chickens that they could hold.
They had a "hay" jump, which was really shredded paper. The kids had a blast jumping into this over and over and over....
Instead of a sand box, there was a corn box. :)
I managed to pry the kids out of the barn without a baby chick and we loaded up on one of the four wagons headed out to the woods for lunch.
After grilling out hot dogs over the campfire, I made a smore for Trinity while Angelina opted for a straight roasted marshmallow.
Photo op before we headed off for a walk in the woods.
The trail took us to a beautiful field.
I let the kids take off their socks and shoes and run barefoot through the grass. That seemed so good I thought, heck, why don't you go tromp through the stream. They enjoyed that even more and quickly managed to thoroughly muddy themselves. :) I figure that is what childhood is for. Why is it that we lose the joy of mud squishing through our fingers and toes when we grow up?
We were having so much fun that we lost track of time until we heard the tractors off in the distance starting up...yeah, we missed the hay ride back to the farmhouse. Fortunately, we were able to catch a ride in the back of one of their utility trucks. After reuniting with our bags and getting the kids changed into clean clothes, it was back to see the baby chicks. They were singing "Rock -a- bye Baby" to the babies. :)
Then we finally went in the chicken coop and found the rabbits that you could hold. They were very happy to sit there endlessly and just hold these bunnies. It was not pretty trying to get them out of there. (sorry - bad indoor photos, but you get the idea at least)
And just when you thought we had done it all, they wanted to tackle Haystack Mountain. Of course our fearless Angelina was up there leaping from bale to bale while Trinity froze up. Eventually, she gave it a try and found out not only could she make the jump, but it was a lot of fun too.
They also climbed up into a tree house and played on swings. Other than that, there really wasn't much to do there....HA! Angelina was out within minutes of getting in the car, but remarkably, miss Trinity stayed awake almost the whole hour+ drive home. I was ready to sleep! And I think I will go do that now that I finally have this post done. Goodnight!
Posted in: Homeschool Lane, Westfield farm on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at at 9:40 PM
