Today, we made our annual excursion to Fairbank Animal Farm to pick our our pumpkins for Halloween. This year was extra special because the Hall family joined us.
Considering the day before, we were about to start researching plans for building an ark, we were beyond overjoyed to have nothing but sunny weather today! I'm talking we needed sunglasses it was so nice! The rain from the previous days required us to don our rain boots to avoid getting overly muddy, but oh well!!
We started off visiting the goats (like we'd start anywhere else ... duh!) and moved on to the various birds (ducks, geese, peacocks, chickens) and fed them the little cups of feed that we got when we paid for our admission. While it is fun to see the birds, it is also a strong reminder that I'm not much of a captive bird gal ... they suckers are loud and smell like ... well, wet birds.). We made our way to the piglets (about a month old) and were (once again) awed by the sheer size of their mamas. Those are some large tired ladies ... then again, I would be, too, if I'd given birth to 12 children a few weeks before!)
We wound our way through the petting barn and got to pet the baby chicks, ducklings, and bunny. While they were cute, the baby sheep and month-old twin goats were what captured my heart. Beyond cute!! We also saw a couple of bearded dragons and a legless lizard (which ... only after my snarky statement "yeah... most people just call 'em snakes" I learned is quite different from a snake due to its eyelids, external ears, and uniform scale pattern.) Annika and Benji even watched a chick break out of its egg and join the world. How exciting is that???
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| Anyone want to guess who won this staring contest?? |
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Eric proved to be an expert goat scratcher ... pretty sure she would have
followed him home if the fences hadn't gotten in the way |
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| Annika giving the chicks a little love |
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Annabelle, Conor, and a goat
(I love how stumpy the goat's legs are!!) |
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| Annika and Benji watching the chicks emerge from their eggs in the incubator |
After we gave the animals their much-deserved attention, it was off to the pumpkin patch to pick out our perfect pumpkins! (Or in Annabelle's case, three perfect pumpkins!) Picking out THE pumpkin is such a different experience for adults than it is for kids. I'm pretty sure the kids inspected almost every pumpkin available before choosing which one to take home. Well.... Benji actually picked out his huge green pumpkin pretty early on, but then had to check out all of the other options before finalizing his green pumpkin decision. Annika and Conor both tromped through multiple pumpkin patches and considered many pumpkins before (finally) making their decisions. Annabelle went with three little pumpkins instead of one big pumpkin approach. We adults, on the other hand, basically walking into the patch, found some that fit our criterial (not rotting, not eaten by a squirrel, fairly uniformly shaped) and called it good within a couple of minutes. Yeah, we're just boring that way
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| Eric and Annika with her pick of the patch |
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| Conor considering a massive green pumpkin |
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| Pretty sure this thing weighs more than she does! |
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| Conor and Eric returning from the patch with Conor's gem |
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| The Halls |
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| The Olson Four |
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| Annika and Eric wheeling the pumpkins to the front of the farm |
While the dads paid for the pumpkins, the kiddos opted to run around the little play/photo area and burn off a little energy. The kids were in and out of the teepee, up and down on the wagon, and all too eager to put their faces in the various painted scenes so we could take their photos.
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| Conor being silly in his stump hidy hole |
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Annika and Annabelle just kidding around
(haha! Get it???) |
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| Our cute babies |
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