Field Trips

One of the nice things of staying at home with the kids is being able to go on field trips. This spring has seen three field trips, with one more big one (the zoo!) to come with Hayden's class. I have really enjoyed getting to see the girls in the school habitats, talk with other kids in their classes, and just generally learn a little bit more about life at school.

Hayden - Museum of Life and Science - late March

Hayden and her class walked to the museum for a visit - I met them there after dropping E off at school. Molly wasn't really supposed to come, but she did great as a monkey on my back most of the time.  I got a group of 5 kids (including Hayden) to walk around the museum with. We could do whatever we want. The kids did great cooperating on where to go next and staying fairly close. It was fun!

It was our first time to see the alpacas, recent additions to the museum farm yard.

alpacas are strange looking but kind of cute! I'm realizing that this one (Retro) is pregnant in this picture. We just saw the babies this past week, and the sign said the baby had been born in April.

Hayden thought the alpaca fur was soft enough to rub her cheek against, much softer than the sheep wool next to it!

digging for fossils. All the kids found something.  H was VERY proud of the shark tooth she found.

swarming the climbing dinosaur.

my group of kids and the giant dinosaur

climbing in the caboose - there's probably a picture of me doing this years and years ago!

Molly was really happy to take a break on the bench and eat goldfish.

cooperative construction. (FYI on our recent visit, the noodle-like pieces were gone. too many sword fights maybe?)

Molly tries to help with the building

lunch time on the sidewalk. I had to say goodbye during lunch to go pick up Eliza. I had a great time though!

Eliza - Spence's Farm - April 

Right after spring break, I went with Eliza to visit Spence's Farm while Molly hung out with Grandma (thanks Grandma!). Eliza had a great time riding with her classmates in the party car (three moms and three kids in one minivan. We learned all about how the farm worked and got hands-on experience with weeding, chickens and horses.

Weeding the garden - and then the weeds get used as chicken feed!

E being brave and feeding the chickens.

Maybe you'd like to try some chickweed.

checking out the diminutive (yet noisy) rooster

the turkey!

waiting with best bud Hailey for their turn on a horse

up in the saddle

E astride Angel - she wasn't sure she wanted to ride but she overcame her fears and did great!

just horsin' around. (ha!)

Eliza - Jean's Berry Patch - early May

Then finally, just this week, Molly and I went with Eliza's class to pick strawberries. We had to postpone a week b/c the weather has been so cool and the berries weren't ready. As it was, the fields were really muddy from a lot of rain but we still found lots of YUMMY berries!

Molly is READY to go pick!  (She really was ready, she jumped right into picking and eating without any hesitation.)

notice the juice dribbling down her chin

this place is great! strawberries to eat as far as the eye can see!

Eliza works hard to fill her container

Her eyes are asking "can I eat this one?" but her mouth is already going for it.

strawberry smile

one last berry before heading to check out. (look who's trying to steal our basket!)

Molly dressed for the occasion.

strawberry face, not quite the strawberry coma of E (see next pic) but only b/c we didn't stay very long

E's strawberry coma face, 2 years ago...

Next week we head to the zoo with Hayden's class for one last big field trip. The whole family is going, including Jason! It will be a long day but hopefully will be lots of fun. There'll be pictures sometime!