Fall at the Farm

A while back...I can't even remember quite when. Maybe three weeks ago?...I accompanied Mam's class on a field trip to a local working farm. This was Mam's first kindergarten field trip and her first time on a school bus. For whatever reason, ancient, yellow buses are a lot more exciting than, say, the shuttle to the water park at Disney World.She was thrilled just to be boarding the bus. But it was a really fun visit to the farm too.

This particular farm is hidden away in a little valley, so despite the fact that it's not far from home, it still feels very pastoral. They have amazing docents who lead the kids in songs, let them sample produce from the beautiful, big vegetable garden...teach them about compost and take them to visit the animals.Since tasting wonderful, new, fresh foods is not Mam's forté, you won't be surprised to hear that her favorite part was visiting the animals. It's been a long time since she had such a good opportunity to get up close and personal with animals. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to watch her. I don't know any child more enthusiastic about animals than she is. To witness her interaction with a rhinoceros when she was just two and a half, was to be just about rolling on the ground with laughter. Given the opportunity, in a group visiting animals, she'll hog all the animals' attention for herself. This trip was no different.Fortunately, one of her classmates was scared to death of animals and refused to come in the pens and another was just slightly afraid, coming in the pens, but keeping her distance. That gave Mam plenty of time and space to get all the animal love she could. She listened raptly to the docent too.It's just so cute to see her so interested in something. It's sort of like taking Smunch to a baseball game. And this...this is Mam's equivalent of witnessing a home run and possibly the very closest she's gotten to a goat.At the end of the trip, each kindergartner got to take a pumpkin back to class where they weighed it and learned about concepts of less and more before taking it home.Although she was excited to go on a fun trip with Mommy and meet lots of animals. A pumpkin of her own was the icing on the cake.