On The Farm!

I don't know if I've ever seen the kiddos as excited as they were today!  They've been looking forward to visiting the farm where one of their classmates lives, and he's been talking about it for weeks.  Lots of parents and grandparents joined us, transporting their students so we could all make it in one trip.

Ms. Julie and I worked hard to gather all the kiddos together, and to get quiet enough to listen to directions - and the farm rooster crowed loudly.  The kids laughed and laughed!  I tried again and again, but the rooster had impeccable comedic timing, and kept the kiddos laughing.  I thought we were going to need to cook him up for lunch!  :-)

When we calmed down and sat in a big circle, our hosts brought around their bunny, Dolly, for us to hold and pet.  He was so soft!

 A few minutes later we met two kinds of chicken, a Silky and an Americana.  They were very different!

 There were horses and a donkey outside for us to meet, and a nanny goat and her almost grown son.  Last year, when we visited, he was just a kid, but he's a big boy now.

 We returned to the barn to see more animals, and sat sweetly to wait for the horses.

 Steele was a favorite with a lot of the children - he's a one eyed, pirate horse.  He's a gentle giant who lost one eye to disease this year.  We fed him treats, so he really liked us!

 Canton is a miniature horse, much less intimidating for the children as he was just about their height.

 One of the things the children remember doing last year, and were very excited to do again, was to throw rocks and dirt into the pond.  It's the little things in life!  Fortunately for us and for them, the ducks were on the other side of the pond hiding in the grasses.

 Our hosts had collected a bunch of no-longer-fit-to-eat eggs, and we got to have an "Easter" egg hunt.  The kiddos hid the eggs, and then collected them again.

 And where do you think we wanted to hide the eggs?  In the grass?  Not so much.  By the rocks?  Yes, but just a few.  No, we wanted to hide the eggs in the sand pile.  Buried.  And then climb the pile.  We're hoping we found them all, and our hosts don't discover more eggs a month from now! (Pee-ew!)

 We were all sandy, so we got blown off with the air compressor and the leaf blower.  You can see the wild and crazy joy in their eyes as they played those games!

 I considered mailing the kids home... okay, not really.  There was a giant cardboard box by the barn, and anyone who's ever met small children knows that they are like kittens, cramming into cardboard boxes at every opportunity.

 Finally, we piled up on the mower and four wheeler for a group picture, before loading everyone into cars to head back to school.

We had a blast, met lots of animals, and checked out farm equipment.  As one of the grandparents with us said, "This is the best field trip.  You can't make any better fun than this."  Thank you so much Mara and Jerry for sharing your morning and your farm with us!

P.S.  One of the parents that went with us has also blogged about our trip - from a parent's perspective.  Check that out here: http://www.pondfam.com/blog/2014/05/ !