Dinner at the beach

After the past several weeks of long hours studying, our family took this weekend for some fun!  And Fun we had!!  Jeremy took all three kids (by himself) to a "Big Boys" show up at a local arena.  They watched some trick motorcycle riding, checked out custom built motorcycles and cars, bounced in a bounce house, and ate popcorn. 

After naps, Nicole declared that it was a good day to go the beach because it was "Sunny and Bright".  We agreed, and loaded up the van to have a dinner picnic at the beach. 

It was a beautiful evening.  All three love the sand (however mommy and daddy don't).  They didn't really go swimming because Jeremy and I didn't have our bathing suits on. 

Nathan was pretty much constantly throwing sand, including down his own back.

Hannah just wanted to roll around in the sand and fill her little cup up.

Nicole played down by the water, digging holes and running from the waves.

Finally, Jeremy jumped in with the kids and built some super deep hole to cover the girls in.

I enjoyed a few "cry free" moments with my son.

Perfect ending to a beautiful Florida day.

President's Day

President's Day came and went this year, and I actually remembered it!

Last Monday we started our president's day celebration, and it continued all week as we read about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. 

While reading about Abraham Lincoln, the girls made a log cabin.  We painted peanut butter on a small tea box and then stuck small stick pretzels around the box.  If I thought ahead, I could have used a small milk box, because it would have helped us make the roof.  After I took the picture, Nicole added a chimney...however it looked like a cannon!

We also made George Washington wigs.  Now, this was very impromptu, can't you tell?  I used a bright green gift bag.  I cut out the shape of the wig, including the tail.  The girls painted glue all over the bag and then randomly stuck cotton balls over it. 

Finally, we made a President's Day necklace.  Nicole traced and cut out three different color stars.  We glued them together and then glued a penny in the center.  Hannah also made one, but I did all the cutting for her.

In between all of the crafts, we read several books about these two historic presidents and about the Presidency in general.  The girls also made a "book" that I printed from the Internet.  Nicole has one more book that she's making, but it keeps getting pushed to the side.

All in all, it was a fun day.  I know the girls learned a few fun facts about the George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  Oh, we are also watching a PBS Cartoon called "Liberty Kids".  I don't think it's on TV anymore, but it is on netflix.  I am not a history buff...but it 's a nice little program that teaches children some basic information from the colonial period.  I enjoy watching it as well.

Now...on to Dr. Seuess' birthday!  That's Wednesday!

A Mooo-arvelous day at the Dairy Farm

Yesterday the kids and I joined Nicole's CC group at a dairy farm about 2 hours away.  After leaving early in the morning, stopping by Chic-fil-A, picking up a new friend and CC mom and daughter, and battling dense fog, we made it to Dakin Farm in Myakka City.   

This dairy farm is very interesting.  They have over 3,000 cows they milk three time a day.  They deliver an average of 17 calves each day.  They cut their grass twice a day so the cows have fresh green grass to eat.  It is not organic milk, but it is local and sold at Whole Foods around the state as well as other grocery stores closer to their farm. 

The tour started with a hay ride to see the farm and their compost pile.

 This is the cutest little Hannah-girl I've ever seen!

 Nicole with her friends Abigail and Ashlynd

These are ladies who have not had a baby yet...and may be lucky enough to get pregnant soon.

Then we saw a few other animals around the farm, including this beautiful turkey.

We watched a pig race...can you see how fast they were running?  The dirt is flying.  Nicole was pretty excited about that part.

After the pig race, the kids all got to help bottle feed a cow.  I've never done this before, at least not that I remember.  They really pull hard on those bottles!

After the calf feeding, the kids got to plant a bean in some good ole' rich 2 year old cow manure compost...yummy!

Nicole, Ashlynd and Aleya

They also played a game about the food groups.  When it was Hannah's turn, she stood in front of the vegetables. She picked out a green pepper for her veggie of choice.  I was so proud of her because she remembered to say "Vegetable...Green Pepper" in her adorable little stuttering 2 year old voice.  She did great!

Nicole stood in front of the dairy group and picked out a bottle of drinkable yogurt. 

Then we took a break for lunch and play time in the dark hay stack maze.  When I got home, Jeremy told me there were probably rats all over in that hay.  I'm a bit freaked out by that.  I was watching for snakes...but not rats.  Ewe!!!  Nicole and Hannah both did a portion of the maze with me...but we all three almost turned around when some boys jumped out of us and scared us (it was really dark, we couldn't see them).

After lunch, we made fresh butter.  I have never done that before, it was pretty neat.

Shaking the cream up to make the butter.

Shake, Shake, Shake...

Ladies and Gentlemen...we have butter!

Hannah taking a taste of a cracker with fresh butter. 

Finally, we took our factory tour.I don't know all of the technical names so I'll use my city-girl language to describe what is going on.

This is the cow's home.  They hang out here in the shade most of the day.  When it gets hot, the fans get turned on for them.  Somehow, the cows know to have their rear end facing this way so their, you know...poop and pee, go down this little gutter.  We saw several cows pee (and they pee for a long time, it's like a waterfall!)

This is Hannah's expression the first time she saw a cow pee.

Now, they heard a group of cows through this little area and into the showers.  Once the room is full, they turn sprinklers on and wash the cows down. We don't want any manure getting mixed in with our milk, do we now?  This was gross because we were getting sprayed with the water too.

We walked up some stairs (which was hard with the stroller...but thankfully there were a few dads with us as well).  While on the deck, we got to watch the process of the cows being milked.  This was amazing...the cows would walk all the way down to the farthest open stall, stick their head through the contraption (that reminded me of a roller coaster safety bar) and get ready to be milked.  Then, the guys down below (I would not like that job!) would  clean and disinfect each udder and then hook them up to an electric pump of sorts.  This all happens really fast, but we could see them cleaning between each group of cows and it seemed pretty sanitary, in a dirty manure kind of way.

 When they lifted the gates, the cows just walked out and around the corner and back into their home.  I'm not sure if you can train a cow or not...but these ladies sure knew the routine.

The milk would be pumped inside where it was pasteurized and bottled.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside.  I don't know why.  Maybe it was bad for the milk to be flashed or something.  It was super clean though in there, not yucky manure around.

After the tour we hung out for a while.  The kids rode a cow tractor train ride and played on a tire swing.

Everyone was filthy dirty at the end of the day...but it was very interesting and fun!  I would suggest going to their farm and doing a tour.  However if you have a stroller...I would suggest using a jogging stroller because there are no sidewalks, so it's hard to get around.  I would suggest even more using  a Moby Wrap and carrying your baby!