Farm Field Trip 2013

 Every year school visits Greenfield Farm a couple miles up the highway. This year, instead of each grade level going on their own, the entire school went together! It was a little crazy, but total fun to see everyone interact and play, especially all the siblings. This farm is a good field trip choice because it’s not open to the public like an orchard is – and we had the entire place to ourselves. There’s a little-kids-play-area filled with toys and bikes and fenced in, a hay-bale maze, a big slide and spiderweb climbing space, a giant slide, a triple corn maze, some animals, tons of space to run, and a hay ride.

 

 Over the hill and on the animal side of the farm is a small pen containing two turkeys. The kids were enthralled. And afraid. And hysterical. I’m not sure how it started, but one child (it might have been Evan – he’s a ringleader like that) started the whole group slowly inching toward Mr. Turkey quietly calling, “Here turkey, come here turkey…” Of course Mr. Turkey wasn’t fond of a massive wall of threatening 4 year olds advancing toward his cage and bearing down on him, so he let out a huge Gobble. The kids absolutely freaked and ran squealing and screaming backwards about 10 feet, laughing all the way. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. And repeat some more. 

 The Giant Slide, aka “Drainage Pipe With Stairs” is always fun. All the kids had a blast (and used mass amounts of energy climbing the hill stairs and sliding, first separately but then in groups of 2-10, down the bumpy slide. Drew got in on the fun, Mr. Fearless, and giggled all the way. Being that drainage pipe is corrugated and echo-y, and that Drew’s giggles can already be heard miles away, you heard each and every of the 100+ bumps on his way down. All us parents were in stitches!

After running and climbing and laughing and running some more, the kids were ready to eat whatever was left out for the animals, but luckily we had all brought lunches. It was near silence as they all dove in and tried to replenish some of their expended energy. However, slightly before we all sat down to eat, Drew decided he was hungry. Without saying a word, he quietly slipped over to the picnic tables, searched the over 60 bags and jackets and blankets, found ours, opened it, and pulled out a snack. He then zipped the bag back up and wandered back over by us, innocently munching on his treasure. He’s a sneaky one…

 

Next came the hayride, divided by grade level. Drew nearly fell asleep in my lap, but Evan’s class spent the time singing songs and being generally silly. It was so fun to listen to their silly songs and watch them all be 4-year-olds together. Why can’t we take this entire class and move them all to kindergarten together next year? :(

 

When it was all over, each kid got to take home a small pumpkin (some parents tried to take them too, since we paid the full admission price too, but the Pumpkin Guard was having none of that. She watched us like a hawk and yelled at anyone with more than one pumpkin, “Do you have two kids?? I need that pumpkin back!!”). After some tears, “But I don’t WANNA leave!!” and a full de-mudding and de-haying and clothing change at the car, we drove back to school for nap. Both boys practically sleep-walked to their classroom mats, happy and exhausted.

 

Sunday Night Football

The Packers are at the Ravens, and so are we!



Being only a couple hours away, of course we had to get tickets and go! We stayed at a downtown hotel and were just a couple blocks from both the stadium and the Inner Harbor. I’m not sure if the boys were more excited about the game or the hotel… they love a good hotel even more than they love a rental car!

"I'm soooo strong! Look at my muscles!"

After a long night of semi-sleeping and waking up constantly for fear a child was falling out of bed and getting kicked in the head and woken up to use the bathroom, we were off to explore. We went down to the coffee shop, ate breakfast, watched a show on the ipad, found an empty hotel ballroom and played football, set up a forest of dinosaurs back in the room, swam in the pool, had snacks, showered, and got dressed—all by 9:30am. Whew. After playing some more and trying to rest, we left for the stadium.

It had been drizzling for the past week, and had just stopped that morning. The forecast said 0% chance of rain all day, and we were ecstatic to not have to watch the game in the cold rain with two little kiddos. However it wasn’t quite done, so we walked to the stadium in drizzle and found a corner of the lower level concessions area to eat lunch. Drew rode the whole way on my shoulders, and we were amazed by the sheer number of Packers fans. They loved Drew riding high, and he got a ton of high fives and even a set of beads!

The football gods were smiling on us, as it stopped raining not 10 minutes before kickoff! After stopping at Guest Services to get the kids lost and found bracelets (they took our seat numbers and gave them bracelets that said, “please return me to guest services.” I found that logical, yet quite amusing.) We wiped off our seats and settled in to the first row of the upper level near the goal line.

The kids did an awesome job of being good and not falling over the railing. Our surrounding fans were welcoming and fun and not obnoxious. Despite the incredibly loud noise of an NFL game, Evan slept through part of the second quarter, and Drew crashed halfway through the fourth (and during the entire walk home). We were thrilled with the Packers pulling it together and making some big plays to win the game!

After the game we were famished and headed to the Inner Harbor. Drew busied himself by playing with stickers while we waited for our order—he always puts them on his lips! We’ve found however that the sticker doesn’t do much to keep him quiet. :)

After dinner we walked around to run off some of our last bits of energy for the evening and ended up reenacting the game on a wide open piece of brick parkway in front of the fountains. The boys were still wearing their game gear, and got quite a few cheers from passing by Packer fans.

In the morning it was time to go. The boys found their “coffee cups” and gave a “Cheers!” to the hotel and Baltimore as we packed up to head back home, exhausted and happy.

On our way home we stopped at "Mommy's Far Away Work" to show the kids where mommy goes on Wednesdays, and introduce coworkers to the family. While chatting in someone's office, Drew decided the best place for him to go was in a bookcase. Odd. But a perfect fit.

After lunch we stopped across the street in the lobby of the Discovery Building to visit their T-Rex and other treasures, and to watch the incredible George Rhodes Audio-Kenetic Sculpture, "Eureka!" I think Drew could have stayed there all day, and honestly so could I. 

It's Snuffy the Seal! See his videos here, here, and here.
An epic promotional campaign for Shark Week 2013!

Then we played and ran one last time before napping all the way home. What an awesome mini-vacation!

Ava turns 3

It isn't often the boys get to hang out with their friend Ava since we live a couple hours away, but they sure do love it when they can. Today was her 3rd birthday party, and while we would have traveled regardless, we just happened to be in town anyway! We got to hang at Ava's house for a while and meet lots of her cool friends, plus paint pumpkins and snack on pizza and cupcakes. (And by "paint pumpkins" I mean douse them in glitter glue and googly eyes, of course.) What could be better? Happy birthday, good friend!!