Steed's Dairy Farm

Last Saturday, we decided to take the boys to Steed's Dairy Farm. It's right down the road from us and has all the fun fall activities like hayrides, petting zoo, etc.

 

When we first went in, we went over to the huge tube slide. I cannot believe I got the boys to stop for a picture before they ran up the stairs.

They seriously could have just went down the slide the whole time we were there. Actually, each activity by itself was really good, but to have all the different activities in one place was amazing. We will definitely be going here every year.

The boys were just so excited, they'd get down and run around to go on it again.

We went on a Saturday after naps and I couldn't believe there weren't more people there. It started sprinkling on our way there and rained a little during our hay ride, so I think that's why it wasn't more packed.

After the slides, the boys went over to the area that had all these wooden play sets with slides. There was a pirate ship, a castle, a truck, a tractor, etc.

Before Carter ran up the ramp, he stopped and said "cheese" haha. He's so used to me saying "let me get a picture" that he just did it on his own.

How neat are these?! The boys loved playing on all of them.

There was a huge inflatable pillow there. I've never seen one of these, but the boys LOVED it.

Carter could have jumped on this thing for hours. There were some older kids that went around jumping near the younger kids to make them fall (I don't know where their parents were) and then once the little kid fell, the two older boys would keep jumping because the little kids couldn't get up. They did this to Carter and I was ready to go into mama bear mode, but Carter thought it was the funniest thing ever. He laughed and laughed, so the boys moved on to somebody else to do this to.

Evan wanted to go on the zipline but Carter wanted to keep jumping, so I took Evan while Greg watched Carter. I was a little nervous about the zip line, but Evan did great, he held on tight and thought it was so fun.

He has no fear.

After Evan got done with the zip line, we went on the hayride. It started raining, so I tried to get a few quick pictures and put my phone away before it got wet. This is Evan saying 'cheese'.

Our view on the hay ride.

This one was being so silly. He was trying to "hide"

After the hayride, Greg took Carter on the zip line and I took Evan over to the sand mound. There were several toys over there for the kids to play with. There were also all kinds of bikes, cozy coupes and riding toys all over the property for the kids to play with.

I got so tickled at Evan, he ran up to this tire and said "Oh no, tire, somebody buried you! It's ok, don't worry, I'll save you" and sat there and tried to get all the sand off the tire.

They had a shed set up with kids toys inside for the kids to play with.

Carter on the zip line. I made Greg take a picture and text it to me. He actually went on it several times, he'd get off and then get back in line and ride it again. I'm so glad there wasn't too many people there, it worked out so well for us.

View from the play area.

There were pony rides for the kids. Carter was doing the zip line and didn't do this, but Evan did and he looked so grown up to me. :(

 

Carter playing in the play house.

The boys in the wooden jeep.

We went after naps and only spent a few hours there. We only left because it was getting late and time for dinner. The boys could have stayed there a lot longer (although they were so good about leaving-no whining or tears) Your admission gets you access all day-you can leave and come back, so I think next year we'll come in the morning and then back in the afternoon. There was so much that we didn't do--a train ride, corn maize, petting zoo, corn kernel sandbox, a sling shot of cow feed that you shoot into the cow field, and stuff we probably didn't even know about. We were hesitant about going this year because of the cost but it was worth every penny. I have to write all this down, so when I check my blog next fall, I'll see that we need to go in the morning and yes, it was worth the money. etc.

Trip to the Mall

Thursday evening, after Greg got home from work, we decided to take a quick trip to the mall. There was something I wanted to look at at Barnes and Noble and I knew that they had a little train area of kids. The boys were not on their best behavior last week, I don't know if they were still getting over croup, if we had spoiled them while they were sick and they were acting out because of that, or what, but it was a rough week with lots of tantrums and fussing. So, we woke the boys up and "sold" Barnes and Noble as the best place in the world to go because there's a train table. They've never been and hoped we'd get a little bit of good play time out of them and maybe skip the fussing and tantrums that evening.

We were right, they loved it.

They probably could have stayed longer. And as we were leaving, we saw a lego station set up, so we'll definitely be back some rainy afternoon when we need to get out of the house.

We decided to eat dinner at the mall and we passed some fountains on the way. The boys love fountains and love to get pennies to throw in. I was completely out of pennies, so their little wishes got nickels and dimes--so hopefully they come true. :)

I love this picture because they are getting up the exact same way at the exact same time. It's like they're twins or something. ;)

They were so happy to be on the fountain.

But, I kept trying to get both to look at the camera and it's either-no eye contact and smiles or eye contact and looking annoyed. The boys are getting better about smiling for me and letting me take their pictures, but trying to get both boys to look at me, smile, etc is still really hard.

We had dinner at Moe's. They have chips and salsa, so the boys were happy.

Then, passed another fountain on the way out.

And a couple more coin tosses since they were good at dinner. I'm pretty sure somebody got a quarter. I really need to stock my purse with pennies. I used to carry a snack size Ziploc bag full of pennies, but we must have gone through it.

This little outing to the mall must have been just what the boys needed. They were really good the whole time we were there and there were major tantrums when we got home. It was a nice evening.

Day at Meemaw's and Papaw's

The boys and I have been trying to get out to my parents house more often. After we lived here a couple of months, we all realized that we hadn't been back out to visit much, so now we're trying to make a point to get out there regularly. That's the reason we moved down here-to be closer to family, so we want to take full advantage of that.

Last Tuesday the public schools were out for the day and the boys preschool goes by the county schools calendar, so the boys preschool was closed too. So, we went to Meemaw's and Papaw's house.

Carter could ride his bike the whole time we're there. He loves it. He has pedaling down pat, he can steer, go fast, etc. He just loves it.

Evan likes the sandbox.

Both boys like the camper. My parents have my grandparents old camper. I remember being young when my grandparents got it, so this camper is pretty old. But, I have an uncle and aunt that love to stay in the camper when they go visit my parents. The boys just love everything about the camper. They found a tennis ball and played catch for a long time.

Then, there was more bike riding.

Evan will try it out, but he just does not get the whole pedaling and steering thing. He has about .25 seconds to get something before he gets frustrated and moves on to something else. I can't wait until he realizes how easy it is, then I know he'll love it as much as Carter.

My dad got off work while the boys were napping, so they were super excited when they woke up. We ended up staying a couple of hours after naps so the boys could play some more. Playing catch in the camper was a big chunk of that time.

The boys wanted to climb on this, just any kind of exploring is fun for the boys. They don't need traditional toys, they're fine with all the stuff my parents have. :)

They were so excited.

then, my dad swung one around when he was helping him down. So, of course, the other one wanted to be swung around. So, this went on for quite some time.

Then, the boys took turns sitting on this tire. Not something I would have guessed would be fun for a 3 year old, but they loved it.

and a little more sandbox play before we left to go home.

 

I love going out to my parents with the boys, with no plan, except to just have fun and play with toys. The boys love playing with all the toys they have at my moms. It gets us out of the house without having to be on the go the whole day. And the boys get to spend time with Meemaw and Papaw, it's pretty much the perfect set up.