Black Island Farms

On October 29th Sophie, Mia and I crashed Lydia's field trip along with all the other preschool students' moms in Lydia's class.  The kids got to go to Black Island Farms.  I'd never been before, but had heard fabulous things about it.  Everything I'd ever heard anybody say was true.  Despite the cold, the girls had a wonderful time.

They loved the hayride and learning about carrots and sunflower seeds held their attention for a few minutes.  When we stopped and they got to hop off the hayride to choose a pumpkin, they were in heaven.  Sophie needed to pick a "big" one, so we looked around until she was satisfied.  It didn't take her long.  Lydia spotted the one she wanted almost the instant she was in the pumpkin patch.  After the hayride Lydia's teacher gathered her students for a class picture and I thought I'd take one of them too.  When I reached for my phone I realized it wasn't in my pocket.  After a quick search in my diaper bag I discovered it wasn't there either.  It had fallen out of my pocket sometime after we'd picked our pumpkins.  I was a little panicked.  I hadn't saved any of the pictures I'd taken since I'd gotten my phone last November.  The thought of them just being gone was crushing.  Nearly a year's worth of photos. Gone.  I returned to our tractor and scanned it without much hope.  There was nothing on the floor.  As I was resigning myself to never seeing my phone again a Black Island Farm employee was holding it up as he walked through the crowd.  He'd just brought a group of kids back from their ride and told me that his tire had come within inches of rolling over my phone.  Yikes!! And phew!! I thanked him profusely and rushed back to join Lydia and Sophie so that we could check out the rest of the farm.

 The girls and I spotted these bales of hay piled high with slides built on top of them on either end.  The girls really struggled to climb them on their own.  There was a rope ladder thrown over the bales of hay (that resembled large steps) in between the slides and that certainly made it easier for Lyds an Soph to conquer them, but I still had to assist them the first time up.  Once at the top of the slide the girls were passed up by several other kids racing down the slides.  Sophie just stood there for a very long time.  Lydia finally got up the courage to slide down and realized how much fun it was.  She was up that rope ladder in an instant and tried to coax Sophie into sliding down with her.  It took much persuasion, but in the end Sophie slid down with Lydia and they both scurried off to do it again.  I'm glad they warmed up to it; too bad it happened when I decided we ought to go home. 

I was concerned that Mia might be reaching her limit and that getting her home before she realized how hungry she was would be for the best.  We were on our way to the exit when they girls noticed the cow bounce house.  They begged me to take them over to jump for a minute and Mia was being such a champ that I figured why not.  The line was short.  The group waiting consisted of Lydia and Sophie and a little girl around their age.  Stars aligned.  The girls wouldn't enjoy themselves if there were too many kids.  They'd definitely struggle if there were lots of older kids. Conditions were ideal.  They jumped for a few minutes and that was that.  As we were getting shoes and boots back on we were informed that a pig race would be starting across the field in just a few minutes.  A pig race?!!  What on earth??? When would we ever have the chance to witness a pig race again?  Mia still seemed content, so we headed toward the pig race track and found a good spot before everybody else started crowding in.  While we waited we watched a goat walk on a long, thin bridge from his fenced in area to the roof of a little barn where the pigs were waiting to start their race.  The goats started eating some food that had been placed on the roof and we were all very entertained up until it was time for the race to start.  A teenage boy introduced the pigs who would be competing in the first race and the audience was encouraged to choose a pig to cheer for.  If we shouted the pigs' names loudly they were sure to race well, but if not the pigs would stop to eat the clovers and lose the race.  We cheered for Midnight the first go around.  Sadly, he lost, but at least he didn't stop to eat the clovers like some of his competitors.  He wasn't last either.  Second go around we hoped that Runt would win, and he did!  Wahoo!

When I asked Lydia about her fieldtrip she said, "I liked the slide.  And when I got home I liked the snack.  I liked the bouncy house.  I loved the pigs and the goats too.  I loved them very much.  They are cute too." 

Sophie said, "I liked the hayride.  I liked getting on the ride.  I liked picking my pumpkin and I liked drawing (we did that after the fieldtrip) and I liked the bouncy house and the slide."

Seriously, such a good time at the Farm.  From what I saw the cow bounce house was definitely Sophie's favorite.  Lydia loved the pig race!! In fact, she loved it so much that for a solid hour she decided that she wanted a pig for a pet instead of a dog.  We really enjoyed ourselves.  I'm a wimp in the cold and could have left much sooner than we actually did, but I'm glad we stayed.  Mia really was a champ!! She was so chill the entire time.  Just hanging out in her jammies.  They were warm and she just took in the sights and was content to watch her sisters.  She stayed happy while we got a quick picture and then she let me have it.  She'd clearly had enough and was major unhappy the entire car ride home.  Once we made it home and she ate and warmed up it was time for a good long nap.  And that was exactly what Mia did.  She slept the entire afternoon away and didn't wake up until sometime after 7:00 that evening.  What an exhausting day.