On Friday I went with Izzie and her class on their first field trip to Upland Hills Farm. It was a bit of a drive, but really, all the farms and orchards are at least forty five minutes away. It took us about an hour to get to Upland which is in Oxford. Izzie's friend, Jason, rode in the truck with us. Kris was super happy about that. The kids were beyond excited and the parents? Of course we were excited too. For real, the parents and Miss Jeanette were really looking forward to this trip. Okay, so the great thing about this farm is that it doesn't get as much traffic as the other places. It's off the beaten path. It's like the secret garden, only the secret farm. As far as I could see, Upland doesn't have an orchard, but you can still purchase fresh apple cider and doughnuts from them so they may have a small one or most likely, they get it from another local orchard.
Upon arriving, we headed for the bathrooms. Actually, we ran. We're talking about seventeen three and four year olds. I'm slightly surprised they didn't go in the field where we parked our vehicles. Once all the kiddies had relieved themselves and taken in the bathroom decor which was pretty cool, (There were vines and flowers painted all of the girl's bathroom stalls and wall), we waited for our tour guide. While we waited a nice lady handed us a bucket of corn to feed the ducks and geese. The ducks are the first thing you see when you enter the farm. There's a pond and a big open area where people wait in groups for their tour guide to meet them. We were the only group at that moment so the ducks were scattered and the scene was peaceful. I emphasize the scene and not the children were peaceful.
Before we started feeding them.
They're just kind of hanging out.
After we started feeding them.
They descended on the children in a feeding frenzy.
Notice the posse to the left with their distinctive mohawks. There are a few variety of geese and ducks that sport this tuft of hair, and I wasn't listening so I don't know what kind these particular ones are.
The black ones looked like Cayuga ducks and were stunning.
Most of the kids handled the swarm of webbed feet creatures just fine. Jason, Izzie and another child were a bit terrified. They would throw a fistful of corn hoping for a different reaction every time, but every time, the ducks would surround the kids and they would run behind me and started clinging and screaming. I finally took them off to the side until everyone else was done feeding them.
Next we pet a chicken (I didn't get a picture of that one) and a big, fluffy rabbit named Thumper.
I wonder what they're waiting for.
They were hoping to pet a horse. The tour guide went over to see if one of the horses wanted to come introduce itself. Apparently, it was more interested in eating so the children watched from a distance. The tour guide talked to the children about the horses and answered some questions. Then she started talking about the one thing that the children would take away from their farm experience and talk about the most. Poop! The animals poop a lot and the kids see it. They think it's totally cool and gross. Or they freak out. The tour guide told the kids that, "Everybody Poops."
Aww, hi nanny goat. You're so cute and timid.
What a beast. She actually dropped him once. He wasn't amused.
This was my favorite part of the farm. I mean come on. How freaking adorable is this little piglet.
Izzie was so careful when it was her turn to hold a bunny. Some of the kids were not as careful. There were some flying bunnies.
She sat so still talking to her bunny in a baby voice. I have no idea where she gets that from.
This is Fern. She's a new momma.
This is her calf. Baby looks tired.
The kids lined up and waited their turn to milk Fern. Some of the boys got a little pushy and cut in front of Izzie, then told her she needed to moved. She started crying and I took her aside and held her while the rest of the kids went. She went last and wasn't so sure about milking Fern. *When one of the Grandma's that came with us asked me why Izzie was upset and I told her, she told Izzie that she needed to tell the boys to back off and wait their turn. Izzie gave a half smile:)*
The tour guide (I don't remember her name, I'm horrible) spent some extra time with Izzie trying to warm her up to Fern.
She's thinking about it and inches closer to pet Fern.
After Izzie pet her, she was about to sit on the stool to milk her when Fern pooped...a lot. That was the end of that. Izzie stepped back and the tour guide talked about how the animals poop a lot and she usually ends up with poop on her by the end of the day. A few of the kids came running over and were disappointed that they didn't get to see Fern poop. Izzie said it wasn't that big of a deal.
Class picture with Miss Jeanette
We went for a hay ride.
I was already having a hard time with allergies and asthma, but this hay ride did me in. Hay is like my kryptonite. One of the parents was chatting with me the whole ride. She probably thought I was so rude because I barely talked to her, I know, and my eyes were kinda glazed over.
After the hay ride we ate lunch and let the kids play on the playground for a few minutes. It wasn't very much fun for Izzie because there were a lot of big kids and she's so tiny, she gets nervous. She's the smallest in her class and this was her first field trip so it was her first encounter being around lots of other kids and bigger kids. She wanted to go down the big slide with a few of her friends. They all climbed up this relatively tall ladder and her friends flew down the slide. Izzie was about to go down the slide when three big boys pushed past her, knocking her down, and went down the slide. She got scared and sat at the top crying. A really nice dad climbed up the ladder in a few few giant steps and brought her down for me. I felt so bad for her I wanted to cry. And I was mad. How rude of those boys. I wanted to grab them by the ears and demand to know where their parents or teachers were. But I was too busy consoling Izzie, who at that point was starting to get tired as well.
On our way out, we each picked out a pumpkin to take home. The kids were so proud of their pumpkins and carried them all the way back to the vehicles.
By the end of our time at the farm, we were all definitely ready to leave. Meltdowns and temper tantrums signaled that the kids were beyond tired. When we got back to the school, we carried in sleeping angels. I left my sleeping angel in the truck while I walked Jason into his room. Then I took my sleeping princess home where she slept soundly until I finally had to wake her up so she would go to bed later on.
I apologize if this post is lacking my usual sarcasm and wittiness you are accustomed too. I'm so tired and I don't even know what day it is. I'm also sore. I'm back at the gym hitting it hard after taking about a month off. I'm taking it a bit slower than normal because my lungs are still a bit finicky, but man, my muscles are screaming at me.
Have a good night everyone.
Peace Out
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