Cherry Crest Adventure Farm

On Thursday, October 20, Joshua's preschool class had a field trip to Cherry Crest Adventure Farm. I asked Mom if she would be willing to watch Caleb & Ryan and she agreed. My nephew Daniel's preschool class had the field trip there on the same day, so I offered to swing by Aunt Jen's house and pick them up; and she agreed that it would be fun to ride together. I warned her that I may have to leave early to come home if I got a call from Mamaw that the Schnook needed me, and she said that was fine. I'm glad it worked out!

When we got there, it was chillier than I had expected it to be. In the photo above, little Sarah is pictured next to Joshua in the train car as we wait for the other classmates to arrive. She's the daughter of my friend Tammy from Study & Share. I thought her cat hat was cute!

Our first stop was the petting zoo. I remembered from last year that for the kiddos to feed the animals, they need quarters. So, I was prepared and Joshua began to feed everything right away as other parents scrambled (we also shared some of our food with others). He loved the goats (and baby goats!) eating right out of his hands.

Soon his buddy Spencer came up to him - they seem to enjoy playing together!

Next we put food on the feeder wheel to send up to some of the goats up top. The kids LOVE this thing!

And he fed some of the sheep (reminding me of the Bible verse, "Peter, if you love me, feed my sheep!").

We also saw the pigs, ducks, bunnies and all sorts of other animals that they can touch.

Joshua's favorite part of the day was getting to hold the peeps. He was SO gentle with these little soft creatures that were just three days old. While the gentleman had to keep telling other kids not to squeeze or drop them, Joshua held his little peep like a prized possession - so gently and so sweet! When Daddy got home that night, Joshua told him that he got to hold the baby peeps!

He tried to milk the cow, but there wasn't any "milk" in it. Then we heard "screaming" from baby goats. One preschool mom said "I think the mother is trapped over there and her babies are in this pen over here. Do you hear them crying for her? I wonder why they are separated." The noise made me sad. All the sudden the mama goat JUMPED the fence of the area she was confined to and ran purposefully through the crowds to get to her young. Someone guessed that the feeding people had made a mistake when they separated them, and another said "watch out because she'll knock over the little kids to get to her own." But, the minute she got into the pen, her babies latched hold of her. It looked painful to me, but all the goats seemed happy then! The crying had stopped. In some ways, it mad me miss my baby Ryan, but I was grateful for the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with Joshua. Next year, he'll be in school already!

Of course, I had to take some pictures! He's used to these requests. :) :) :)

Then we lined up for our wagon ride. I saw another mom with all three of her kids, including one Joshua's age, then one who I would guess is younger than Caleb by a year or so and a tiny baby. Another mom offered to hold the baby for her and took him out of his car seat. The mom then held the other little guy. But, when the ride was finished, the "helper mom" simply dumped the baby into this other woman's arms. No stroller, no car seat, no extra hands. I know what that feels like! I told her to stay put and I would go and get all her stuff for her so she could put the baby in the stroller combo and have her hands for her other kids. She seemed appreciative - then she asked me if my baby came in May or June. She remembered seeing me "extremely pregnant" and I couldn't have said that I had ever seen her before in my life. How funny!

Our wagon ride was FREEZING cold. Joshua & Spencer sat together once again. I snuggled my big guy and told him to keep me warm and I would do the same for him. :) :) :) After it was over and we were done helping the parent out (once again I was so glad that Mamaw was watching my other two boys!), we headed for the big bounce "pillows." I had to get a picture of my Bean being a "Lil' Kernel."

Joshua jumped and jumped, but he could NOT keep his pants up. They were a 5T slim, but they still kept falling down. His friend Spencer jumped on him, and I told Joshua to tell him "no thank you" since the Bean did NOT like it. I also went over and rescued him. Spencer's dad was talking my ear off and had their baby strapped to him in a bjorn but didn't seem terribly concerned about his older son's behavior. Finally when the Bean's pants fell completely down, I suggested we find a new activity to do. We had already spent a half an hour jumping at that point. I think this is Joshua's favorite thing to do at Cherry Crest!

We found the hay tunnel, but he didn't want to go in. His teacher was there, though, and asked to get a picture of him.

So, I snapped one of her with him. Here's Mrs. Zimmerman and Joshua. I love his teacher this year! She prays for the kids each morning on her way to school. She's teaching them Bible verses and is more 'strict' about the quality of their letters and education. What a great role model she is!

Then I saw Mrs. Perez, the aide, and I asked for her picture as well. Joshua loves her! He always asks to sit at her table first since she does the crafts in the morning. He likes that she talks "differently" and is teaching them a couple Spanish words.

After these pictures, we climbed the big hill together and slid down together. He LOVED it! So, we went again. This is an area that I couldn't have gone with a baby, so I'm glad that we could go together. We "raced" down the hill. It was fun!

That's when we found Aunt Jen in the same area. It was almost 11:30 or my little Schnookie's eating time. We got a picture of the boys together on the horses. Other than this moment, our classes had been separate - or at least our groups. Half our class went with Mrs. Kile's preschool class, the "Redskins," and the other half went with a different teacher's group "the Steelers." I thought it would have been more appropriate to be a Redskin, but we were assigned to the Steelers.

Before leaving, Daniel saw this shooter thing and wanted to try it. I was AMAZED at how well Joshua did with it. After the first shot, he hit the upper net EVERY SINGLE TIME! It was truly impressive as some of the bigger kids weren't even getting it where it was supposed to be! Maybe we have a little "David" with his sling shot on our hands!

We took a photo together, and I took one of Aunt Jen & Daniel together with her camera before we started walking out.

The boys found this spider web and climbed on it before we left. It was windy that day, and an entire bin of napkins blew through the area when a worker opened it to restock it. As we left, we helped pick a few up to put in the trash can.

Then we headed home. It was a really fun day together! Mamaw & Caleb had swept our floors while we were gone - BONUS! (Thanks, Mamaw!). We were covered in mud, so upon arriving at home, we took our shoes & clothes to the laundry room where I washed them (thank God his sneakers are washable!). We cleaned right up and enjoyed playing that afternoon before I had to leave for class that night. It was a busy but FUN day!