A Day at the Farm

So, last week I completely missed posting. Baby Boy decided to come down with the flu, and in caring for him and keeping an eye out for symptoms in the rest of the family, blogging went to the wayside. I return this week, however, with a recap of our recent field trip to the pumpkin patch!

For the younger crowd, our homeschool group usually does an annual trip to one of our local pumpkin patches. Whoever plans it decides which one. This year, I volunteered and set us up with my favorite one, which is run by a wonderful Christian family and truly has a farm feel to it!

We started things off with a hayride, and yes, we rode through the countryside on real bales of hay in wagons pulled my a tractor - no commercialized vehicles here! There's always one part of this ride where I'm always nervous and convinced we are going to tip although it's never happened. On one side of the wagon it drops off to a creek bed several feet down as you bump across a little rock bridge. Once we got past this "scary" part, we spent the rest of the ride trying to identify the many trees along the way!

After the hayride, we headed into the barn where we sat on hay bales in the main area between rows of animal stalls (open to the outside, so the animals were able to come and go as they pleased) where we listened to the farmer herself tell how a pumpkin grows from seed to fruit and showed us the many varieties of pumpkin they grow at the farm. No videos here! We got the real deal!

From there, we were able to meet some of the animals on the farm - a dairy cow, miniature horse, donkey, geese, ducks, goats, lambs, pigs and turkeys - before heading off to the real excitement for the kids, the play area!!! My kids especially love the corn bin, even though it grosses me out just a tad thinking about all the little bodies that have already been in there and where that corn could have ended up before my kids jumped in. *shudder*

We let them play a good 45 minutes or so before heading out to the patch and picking out our pumpkins! Each kid was able to pick out a miniature pumpkin or gourd to take home. They had some really cool looking gourds, but my husband told me we couldn't go to a pumpkin patch and NOT bring home pumpkins. Anyway, I love this pic so much, I've got to show you the unedited version!

Off to the left of the above picture, you can see the entrance to the HUGE corn maze they have. We did take a few minutes to go through it just long enough to find the exit (as opposed to go for the prize by finding the hidden items) before heading back home. 

All-in-all it was a great day, and I was able to cross something off our family's fall bucket list! 

October...Already?!?!

Wow! Is it really October already?

We've completed our first full month of schooling for this academic year, and while there are a few minor changes I would make if I could travel back in time, I've been very pleased with our progress so far!

Big Boy is adjusting so well to the new heavier schedule of 1st grade, and Big Girl is actually really enjoying math this year! I cannot tell you what a relief these two things are for me. I really was worried about them looking back on last year.

Baby Boy continues to be a challenge. My school-only activities and toys are not working to keep him as entertained as I had hoped. Sure he enjoys what I've gotten, but he is such a perfectionist (much like older sister and mom) that he gets frustrated if the slightest thing goes "wrong". I'm really looking at scrapping the plans I have in place for him and trying to figure something else out.

Looking forward, October is set up to be a pretty busy month.

• College homecoming
• Hometown homecoming/fall festival
• Husband's 15 year class reunion
• Trip to a local pumpkin patch
• Piano performance in nearby town
• History day with the homeschool group
• Halloween

How about you? Any big plans for the coming month/season?

Discover the Dinosaurs

This past weekend we had a great trip with my parents to a "Discover the Dinosaurs" exhibit! Although we aren't studying dinosaurs at this moment (land dinosaurs won't happen until next year), I still thought it would be a great educational field trip.

Big Girl had a blast the whole day! She really hammed it up for photos, especially with the meat eaters posing "mid-scream" as if they were about to attack. She had us all cracking up with her antics.

Big Boy started off the most excited about the day, but once he saw how big the dinosaurs were, he wasn't so sure. At one point, when an allosaurus started moving, he ran and hid behind grandma. Poor guy! (I realize the pic below is actually a tyrannosaurus rex. My allosaurus pic didn't come out very well. I figure they're related, so it sufficiently illustrates the scary factor.)

Baby Boy was timid but not in the same fearful way as big brother. He loved looking at all the movement and even the big dinosaurs but did get a little worried the few times we turned his back to them for pictures.

All three kids really enjoyed the dinosaur dig areas and the "Dino-theatre" presentation. They were all excited to see Dr. Scott the paleontologist from one of their favorite shows, Dinosaur Train!

All in all it was a great day and a great break in routine from the normal school week!

Why! Hello, Mr. Firefighter!

Field trips are always great fun for my kids. It gets them out of the house when they are supposed to be in school, and they love the temporary change in routine. (Of course I believe routine is important, so field trips are a rare treat in our house.)

Our tour began with none other than the fire engines! The kids loved getting to go through the big engine and sitting in the same seats the guys did. One of the smaller engines held extra hoses for use on larger calls. We also were able to go through the HazMat truck.

One of the most interesting aspects of the tour for the kids was getting to see one of the firemen put on all of their gear. He explained that they are expected to get on 30+ pounds of gear on in less than 60 seconds! I think I could give them a run for their money some mornings with that time! Once onsite, they pile on another 40 or so pounds of gear for a total of 70+ pounds of gear! Wow!

As a mom, the most important element to the whole presentation occured after he got into his gear. He crawled toward each child, so they could see that a firefighter in gear is not a scary monster but a real person under all that stuff. Princess and Warrior were both a little apprehensive at first, but I think it was so beneficial for them to see a fully geared person down on their level.

One special aspect to our tour was that we were able to see the crew's bunks. Since they are an all-male unit (only one female has ever applied and ended up turning down a job), females are not usually allowed in this area.

Last but certainly not least, we were all reminded of how important it is to have functioning smoke/fire detectors in your home and to have a plan in place in the event of a home fire. If you have yet to do this with your family, I urge you to put together a plan and PRACTICE it immediately! Nothing is worth putting off that could safe the life of one of your precious babies!