Down on the Farm

Ok, I am going to fast forward a little bit and talk about how we spent our actual day today; however, I’m still going to work on my backlog of days I still want to document and remember for the girls.

Today, we got invited to an event called “Down on the Farm” at the Darien Nature Center which is a few towns away. We hit the road hoping to drop by Costco first, but dear Lord…the traffic. It took us forever to get to Darien, so we decided to postpone our Costco run until after the event.

We didn’t really know what to expect, but when we parked the car and heard Taylor Swift playing from loud speakers down on  the open lawn, we knew it was going to be a good time.

First stop, pony rides. Mia hasn’t been a big fan of pony rides. They scare her, but this time…she loved it and decided to do it twice! Emi decided to sit this one out. The venue was just far too crowded for her, so it took her a while to warm up to things.

While Mia was riding the pony for a second time, Emi and Ten visited the photo booth.

Next stop, face painting. My kids have a love/hate relationship with face painting. They love to have it done, look at it for a second, but then hate to keep it on.

A rosy cheeked Emi with a butterfly. It was so incredibly hot and humid out.

Hmm…what did Mia choose?

A snake! These were definitely not the best face painters, but the girls didn’t mind.

Our next farm adventure: milking a cow. Mia assured us that it was just water.

Next, we found some shade and decided to grab popsicles and lunch.

Playing with friends while we wait.

Mia went with a cheeseburger, and Emi just had a few fries. I usually don’t eat at these things because it is just so expensive, but decided to go for it this time. Ten went and grabbed me a grilled cheese from Mobile Melts. Gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches that were featured on Food Network….umm…yes, please.

What did I choose?

Jalapeno popper with bacon! OMG…this thing was so good. I washed it down with some ice water sitting in the shade. Side note: I had Kai in the baby carrier, so Ten did all of the running into the heat for us.

After lunch, we checked out a little bit more of the festival. Sorry for the photo overload if you are still patiently reading.

Our owl and mustache baby.

It was so hot, and we were getting kind of miserable (especially me and Ten), so we headed into the air-conditioning for a few activities. It was amazing that Kai slept through the entire thing!

Nature Bookmarks.

They also got to pet a guinea pig and a few bunnies, and we followed this with the outdoor petting zoo.

Last stop, tot lot. We let the girls play in the water tables before heading home (or actually to Costco).

This event was so fun; however, I always groan when adults have to pay to enter these things. Not really worth the $20 to watch my kids pet a goat….but whatever. On the positive side, we were able to find some Usborne sticker books (our favorite), and they had plenty of free iced water. It was a great summer experience.