Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Farm Field Trip

Field trips to visit a farm are always a hit with my kids.  When we lived in Georgia, we visited a peacock farm and a regular farm with a feed store within months of each other.  Today, we visited a produce farm with our play group.

Our field trip was awesome!  As an added feature, you can have birthday parties at this farm.  Although this was not a birthday party, they were set up to show our kiddos a wonderful time.

First, the kids took a "tractor train" ride (as Arin called it).

 Next, they had free time to play on the playground and swing on the tire swings ~ always a big hit!




Then, back to the tractor train which led them out to the field where the kids were allowed to pick strawberries.  Ella said this was her favorite part of the day.







My girls also picked onions.  This was a great experience for my kids.  They have picked strawberries, blueberries, and citrus, all which are very simple to pick, but they really had to work to get the onions out of the ground, which made it even more rewarding.




Then, back to the tractor train.

And over to the playground where the kids were given ice cream. Yum!

After their sweet treat, it was time to get back in the tractor train again. By the way, all the kids loved, loved, loved this, which is why they rode it so often.  It was a bit bumpy, so Ella told me it was like being on a roller coaster.


This time, they stopped at the petting farm to feed the animals.

Then, back to the tractor train one last time and the field trip was over.  All the kids enjoyed it.  My girls have already asked if they can go back again tomorrow!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Fresh Strawberries


Last year, we took the girls to pick strawberries.  It was such a fun experience that they (Arin especially) have been anxiously waiting for the time to come again to pick more strawberries.  That time happened yesterday :)

spotting the perfect berry




After picking strawberries, we went back to the park to check on the ducklings.  We first found them less than a week ago, when there were 15, now there are only 14.  It's amazing how quickly they are growing independent.  Last week, the mama duck kept them close by her.  This week, they are swimming off, quite a distance from her, as well as going off in different, smaller groups and sometimes on their own.  The mama watches from a distance, but flies in close if she senses danger.  We've been back to check on the ducklings four times since we first found them.  It has been a great learning experience for the girls.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Make Way for Ducklings

On Wednesday, we went to the park to feed the ducks.  After we finished feeding the hungry birds, we walked for a little while and came upon a mama duck and 15 ducklings!  Arin and Ella loved the baby ducks, which came right up to them.  We were disappointed that we had no food left for them.  So the next day, we went back to the park, this time with a whole box of Cheerios to feed to the ducklings.  It was such a fun experience for the girls.