Farm Hands

 It has become somewhat of a seasonal ritual...in Spring and then again in the Fall we take a drive to this farm. Well, let's use the word "farm" loosely. It is a park turned into a farm with the simple addition of multiple pens filled with Mama animals and their babies.

 2 week old pig piles, 3 day old goats, kittens, ponies...really every farm animal you can think of just waiting for us to pet them, lay on them, even pick them up. 

 Last Fall Colby was a little bundle wrapped in a stroller, totally unaware of where we were or why. Not this Spring. He was straining to get out of the stroller, squealing, and grabbing every animal in site. 

It's official...it's in our blood...we all love animals! 

 I had to drag Ella out of every pen in order to keep up with our guide. She fell in love over and over, her nurturing spirit just oozing out all over those squawky chickens and nubby lambs. 

The tour ends with the always popular milking of the cow. I think the kids are pretty confused by this. You have to admit the placement of the udders and the udders in general lend the kids to think "pee" rather than milk.  And combine that with seeing me nurse Colby....I can only imagine what is in their little heads. 

That aside, a day with animals is about as good as it gets for us :)

Farm Day

Oh, how I love this farm! You can touch every animal and hold lots of their adorable babies from chicks to rabbits to piglets.

"Daddy, I squeezed the cow's beche until peepees came out." (Obviously we missed an important part of the lesson here)
All 3 little city slickers (and their friends) got right into every pen, asked great questions, and loved those animals all up. They remembered to respect the animals and they marveled at the hooves, the fur, the feathers.
I daydreamed about living on a little farm somewhere with open space to explore. The kids would experience the magic of animals everyday and we would take deep breaths of fresh air and spend quiet nights gazing at skies full of stars.

But then we hopped back on the parkway and returned to the shadow of the Big Apple, the people, the lights, and the congestion - where we remind ourselves that beauty and happiness can be found anywhere.