old macdonald had a farm, e.i.e.i.oooooo

lauren was feeling great this morning when she woke up, so i decided to take the kids some place fun. i had heard about this farm in the early fall, but never had a chance to take them. because it was so beautiful outside, i got us all ready and a picnic packed. we made the trek out there and i was so glad we did. it was a gorgeous farm with lots of fun playgrounds, animals to pet/feed, and even a train ride.

as usual...before we got going, i got the kids to take a picture together.

the kids played on a few playgrounds before we started going around to see the animals. we saw a really greasy emu first. the kids were really skiddish. well, jared and lauren were. brandon was not! we went and saw some sheep and the peacocks. i was hoping one would open up their feathers, but no such luck. then we went to the goat pen. they were so small and i wanted the kids to feed them (we bought a few bags of feed). brandon went in and was all about trying to tackle them. jared and lauren were freaking out. i warned them that if they didn't come in and settle down, that we were leaving. it would be one thing if all the animals were in pens in this farm, but there are deer and all sorts of other animals roaming around. they were still very hesitant, but they came in. FINALLY, lauren got the nerve to feed a goat. and then jared realized that they were harmless, so he fed them too. what an awesome sight to see my kids not freaking out over 4-legged animals!

we walked over to the corral with the ponies, but they were on a break. these trees were gorgeous, so i took another opportunity to get another picture of the three of them.

after this picture, we headed over to one of the many picnic areas and ate our lunch. i was so surprised that brandon sat on the picnic bench and ate like a big boy. the kids watched the pony corral like hawks so that they didn't miss a chance to ride them. as soon as we finished cleaning up our area, they opened up for pony rides again and they dashed off to get in line. i was a little hesitant at this point because i didn't want them to get on the pony and then freak out. i was SHOCKED to say the least that they both got on and loved it. i wasn't surprised to see that brandon really liked it, but i was surprised when he would not let go of the saddle after his ride was over!

the big kids were ready to play on the other playgrounds and ride the train, but i reminded them that there were a few more animals to check out.

this picture of brandon cracks me up. totally looks like they were having a conversation there! brandon probably telling him, "my mommy puts me in a "cage" every night too...i feel your pain!" ha ha.

sometimes the kids are sad when daddy can't make it to these kinds of activities. when we got to this pen, i told the kids..."LOOK! daddy is here!" they didn't get it, but it gave me a little chuckle!

the last group of animals was the rabbits. lauren said those were her favorite and jared tried to talk james into getting them one that night. they really did have a great time at the farm and hopefully one day soon we can get back out there again.