Wednesday, we went to the Deanna Rose Farm and by the time we got home, we were all so exhausted that we just crashed. If you live anywhere near it, you should go! During the week it's free and I bought the $10 package for both of the bigger kids that let them do all of the activities like mining, horseback riding, a hay ride, fishing, and bottle feeding the goats.
We were there all afternoon, until it closed and still didn't have time to do it all. We kept our tickets for the hay ride and will do it when we go back.
We went with my mom and my brother Andy. It was nice to do something with them. The kids love them like crazy and we never get the opportunity to do fun things like this. We'll have to do more of this.
When we went to the house to meet Mom and Andy, we got to see the pets he was sitting for his friend. They really were cool. They had a bearded dragon and a turtle. Sydney was mesmerized.
Ben thinks that Uncle Andy has all the best toys. When Andy showed him how to shoot the BB gun, Ben was bummed it didn't have anything in it. We had to explain to him that you don't shoot BBs inside the house. After seeing his fascination, I've never felt more happy that we don't have guns in our home.
One of the first things we saw when we got to the Deanna Rose Farm was Ben's Bank. That was too cool.
The kids even got to "make money" at Ben's Bank.
After the bank we went to the one room school house. One side was arts and crafts and the other side was a bunch of cute little desks with chalk and chalk boards on each one. We didn't do any arts and crafts because, at two, I didn't think that Sydney was ready for what they were doing. Don't worry I'm planning lots of new fun crafts now for the kiddos. They did seem to love drawing on the chalk boards, especially Sydney! She didn't want to leave.
The first ticket of the kids we used was the mining one. They give you a wooden strainer thing and a bag of sand. You pour the sand into the strainer and put it in to the water and slosh it around and the sand and mud washes away and leaves you with neat rocks, stones, crystals, and sometimes even shark teeth. It was really cool. My brother's favorite seemed to be the fools gold. I have to admit that it looks pretty cool.
The next ticket we used was for bottle feeding the little goats. They were so cute and when you walked in with the bottle, they went nuts, as goats tend to do. While the goats are cute and usually harmless, they were much to aggressive for Syd and she did NOT like it at all.
There were many other animals we got to see or pet while we were there too, like pigs, cows, sheep, and rabbits.
After the goats, I had to stop and feed Rylie, so my brother took the kids to see the tee pee and the sod house thing. I guess Ben was not really into that and was a little scared by the dark room, the native american chanting on the stereos and the clothes and weapons hanging on the walls.
After the little break to feed Rylie, we did one of Ben's favorite parts of the day. Riding the pedal tractors. My boy loves tractors and always has so I wasn't really surprised. The only problem was that he was so into it, I wasn't able to get a picture of him zooming by.
Next came my brother's favorite part and the part I was sort of dreading... fishing. I know you're probably thinking, but they go fishing all the time, but I have to admit, I've never in my life baited my own hook. I don't like most bugs, and to me, that includes yucky, slimy worms. Bleh! I did it though. The things you'll do for your kids... And, I only stuck myself, with the hook, twice the whole time.
Nobody caught any fish. They were all too smart and just ate all of our worms. That's alright though, because it was time for horse riding. Sweet Sydney was too young. You have to be three. They did let her pet the horse though and we promised her that she can come back next summer and ride them when she's big enough. She wanted to ride them so bad. Riding the horses was Ben's other favorite part and he looked so gosh darn cute too.
While we were there, we stopped at every playground so the kids could swing, slide, and play on any other toys there.
Also, my nickname has always been Bob, so I felt it was important to take this picture. Haha!
Before we left, the kids got to sit and watch the geese. I love when they get along. They are so cute. When Ben does something, so does Sydney, usually.
And, on our way out, we stopped to look at the dairy goats. I couldn't get over how big they were!
Thursday evening, Shawn was to come home, so we had a lot to do, in order to prep for his arrival home.
We really put the kitchen to use. I made my morning mocha to give me the energy to get through all the rest I had to do. We made pork chops in the crock pot, bread dough in the bread machine, then baked in the oven, chocolate chip cookies, and lemon blueberry muffins. There is something really satisfying about making something from scratch where the main ingredient came from something you picked yourself.
Everything turned out delicious and I think Shawn enjoyed it all as well as the kids. After dinner and kitchen clean up, we all sat down together and played Hungry Hungry Hippos a few times before bed.
I really love spending time together as a family and this time is precious since Shawn was gone for four days and after being home for two, will leave again Sunday to be gone for three more days. I hate him being gone all the time, but I guess it's what happens and one of the sacrifices we have had to make for our family.
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