Travel with kids

Visiting the Farm

mildlygranola, , 6 Comments

This weekend the kids and I headed out-of-town to visit my cousins Annie and Megan. My cousin Deirdre joined us for the trip, which made for a fun mini reunion.

We got to their farm around five, which meant we had a few hours to hang out before the kids went to bed and the grown ups started enjoying cocktails. After the four-hour trip we were all pretty worn out.

The next morning we were ready to have some fun. It was a sunny day, something we hadn’t had in weeks. We had coffee in the sun on the front porch while the kids played. It was very relaxing.

The weather was so nice we ended up spending most of the day outside. It was so nice to be able to be out in the fresh air.

The kids liked petting the cats.

Audrey really liked crawling onto the roof of the hog house. She thought she was pretty darn cool. Elliot was not pleased that I wouldn’t let him climb up. I feel like 2 is too young to be climbing on top of buildings.

My cousin Megan has a 4-year-old and a 5-year-old. My kids loved having them to play with. They were really good at showing the kids around and sharing their toys too. If Audrey wanted to see something, like a big tractor, Eloise would take her hand and show her where it was.

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They had a wonderful time playing. Elliot really liked going to see the pigs.

He also liked riding on Uncle Patrick’s old horse.

20181013_1451211989637954500805570.jpgMy Uncle Dan took the kids for a ride in his farm jeep thingy. 20181013_152611720301416125121670.jpgThen Audrey decided she was a big shot and wanted to ride in the back. 20181013_1552205029691251465090897.jpg

Both kids enjoyed playing on flatbed trailers. Audrey’s greatest joy was kicking cats off of the trailers. Not like a sociopath, it was a gentle kick. 20181013_1540542342299840206443221.jpgAll day we kept a small fire going. It was nice to rest by the fire and have a nice chat. We ended up eating dinner around the fire. It was incredibly relaxing. The kids were playing. The grown ups were talking. It was such great night. It was the perfect ending to a lovely day.

This morning we woke up and the weather had changed. We drove home through snow for the first hour. I didn’t want to see snow until December.20181014_0938362454379028994644147.jpg

It was a great weekend, and now I am counting down the minutes until I can tuck the kids in so I can go to bed. I hope you had a good weekend too.

 

Living History Farms

mildlygranola, , , , 1 Comment

Last Wednesday zoo members were able to check out Living History Farms for free. It’s a great opportunity for the museum to introduce zoo members to another organization they might want to buy a membership for. It’s an even better opportunity for me to check out something that I usually wouldn’t pay to visit (my kids are too young to get much out of Living History Farms).

We decided to skip most of the farms and just go to the 1900 farm. We arrived there by tractor pulled wagon. The kids were so excited to see the tractor they didn’t even mind the wait.

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On the farm we checked out the animals. Elliot loved the cows. Audrey loved the horses. I loved the sheep. We were all happy.

After checking out the animals we walked to the pick up stop for the tractor. It was nice to get a little walk in. We had to wait about 15 minutes for the next tractor to arrive. They had a nice playground for the kids to play on. Unfortunately, it has been raining here for weeks, so the kids were pretty muddy after that.

We headed back into the historic village to check out the shops. Audrey ground up cinnamon with a mortar and pestle at the pharmacy. She thought that was pretty neat.

If the kids didn’t need naps we could have explored more of the town and checked out the other farms. We ended up spending about two hours there. That was enough for us. When the kids get older we’ll check it out again.

Camping

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I did it again. I said I wouldn’t do it again this summer. I swore I was through with making stupid decisions. Yet I did it: I went camping with my best friend and all four of our little kids.

We headed down to Missouri on Saturday morning for a night in the camper. It was a beautiful fall day. We were able to have fun at the playground.

20180929_1618086318659511943823623.jpgWe had a picnic dinner. This big guy fell off of the top stair of the camper. He is fine, but for a minute there I was terrified (so was he).20180929_1809293370616554410480813.jpgHe just needed some extra snuggles.20180929_1802595559363640262327675.jpg

Mostly from camel. Camel’s name has recently changed from Alice to Cam Cam. I’m a little sad about the name change. Thankfully, Elliot’s voice for Cam Cam (it is very high pitched) hasn’t changed, which makes me happy.Once Elliot felt better we sat around the fire.20180929_1809364205328014811653398.jpgElliot and Bryan had a nice little chat.20180929_1823202219143577193932831.jpgThe kids had s’mores. They were all fans.20180929_1826063030795008917020544.jpgAfter the fire we put the kids to bed. Then my kids were absolutely crazy and Elliot is no longer allowed to camp until he is 4 and I thought they would never sleep. It sucked. I am not taking them both camping at the same time next year. If I tell you I’m taking them camping please remind me of this blog post. Audrey and Elliot were so naughty I grounded them from the Laurie Berkner Band for two weeks. Are they too young to understand a punishment that long? Absolutley. I’m already feeling guilty about that, but not guilty enough to listen to anything but my music on the way home.

This morning I had more coffee than normal and tried to wear the kids out before our drive home. We headed to the playground where they climbed for a long time. 20180930_0908128867068045618194909.jpgWe headed home after the playground. It was a 4 hour drive. Both kids were exhausted. Neither child napped. I’m now going to make a cup of tea and try to forget the bad parts of the trip and focus on the fun parts.

 

The End of The Summer Passport

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Labor Day weekend is over. Kids are back to school. Starbucks has pumpkin spice lattes.  That seems like a good time to end the Summer Passport.

I loved having a summer passport this summer. There were weeks where I wanted to just stay home, but the passport got me out. We tried different things, instead of going to the same three parks over and over. I liked it so much I’m thinking about doing a fall passport too.

The passport included the following items. The items we completed are crossed out.

  • Go to music class
  • Walk to farmers market
  • Play at a new park
  • Make Pudding pops
  • Have a breakfast picnic
  • Go berry picking
  • Paint outside
  • Eat on Patio at Saints (a kid friendly sports bar in our neighborhood)
  • Visit the Clive Library
  • Visit the Science Center
  • Walk around Gray’s Lake
  • Decorate 4th of July cookies
  • Go out for ice cream
  • Go to the beach at Big Creek
  • Play at Riley Park
  • Play at Tower Park wading pool
  • Play at Beaverdale Park
  • Swim at Ashby Park splash pad
  • Have a Dance Party
  • Play at Greenwood Park
  • Hike at Walnut Woods
  • Hike at Browns Woods
  • Go to the zoo
  • Visit the State Historical Building
  • Walk the River Walk with Uncle Todd
  • Visit Ivy’s farm
  • Swim in a hotel pool
  • Bike to Breakfast
  • Go Camping
  • Visit McHenry Park

I didn’t start the Summer Passport until late June. Had I started it on Memorial Day I would have been able to include the State Historical Building, Ashby Park, hiking at Browns Woods, having a breakfast picnic and music class as we did all of those things earlier this summer. It’s fair to say that we’ve had a busy summer.

Last week, leading up to the end of the passport was even busier than normal. We crossed several items off the list: the beach at Big Creek, walking around Gray’s Lake, eating on the patio at Saint’s, and going on the river walk with Uncle Todd. signal-2018-08-31-145347-13734971905584774236.jpg

This week we are going to have to spend a few days getting errands run to make up for last week. It was a wonderful summer, and I hope next summer is even better.

 

Camping

mildlygranola, , , , 2 Comments

Audrey and I went camping last weekend. It was the kind of camping I prefer – the kind in a camper with beds and a flush toilet and air conditioning.

We camp with our friends at their camper in North East Missouri. It is a four-hour drive according to google. According to a certain 3-year-old it takes 5 and a half hours. We stopped four times on the way down. But sometimes you need to stop and take a hike through a butterfly garden or play at a park. Hike is probably not the right word, as it is more of a flutter. Audrey is very interested in fluttering like a butterfly, so she runs around flapping her arms, saying “flutter, flutter, flutter.”

When we got to the camper we unpacked our stuff and headed out to do our traditional first night of camping dinner: pizza. 20180727_1832419192974046420378167.jpg

On Saturday it was a little chilly for July. It was too cold for the water park or the beach, so we explored playgrounds. We visited 3 before nap time. It is the first time I can remember Audrey falling right to sleep in the camper.

For dinner we decided to head to the Hootenanny – a restaurant that specializes in pie. I had a wrap for dinner that was delicious, but the pie was what stood out. I went with a slice of butterfinger pie.

After dinner we headed to another park. We then headed back to the camper, totally exhausted.20180728_1827422743126505580072048.jpg

Our drive home was faster than our drive down to Missouri. By that point Audrey had figured out that she wasn’t going to get a bag of M&Ms every time we stopped. We had been on the road for about three hours when we got to Oskaloosa. When we are on a road trip and it is clear that the kids need to get out and play I just drive around a small town off the highway until we find a park. They are usually easy to find. In Oskaloosa I found the best road trip park we have ever found. It was huge! There was a new playground, and old wooden playground, and an old playground with a rocket slide. It was so big I might be heading there next year for a special picnic day.

This week we are staying in Des Moines, which I’m looking forward to. I love to travel, but four nights out-of-town last week wore me out.

I hope you had a fun weekend too.

Elliot Eats Ice Cream

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I was in Cedar Falls visiting my parents this week. It was three days filled with parks, playing outside, and a visit to the library. We also had ice cream for lunch two days in a row.

I had never let the kids eat anything other than a healthy (ish) lunch before. Their minds were blown. My mind was blown on Wednesday when I saw how bad Elliot was at eating ice cream. At one point he thought the ice cream was too cold so he started eating the bottom of the cone. It made a huge mess.20180725_1235144603504716703335716.jpg

Luckily he appears to be a fast learner when it comes to ice cream. He was much cleaner today.20180726_1207524940877670906142349.jpg

Now it’s back to normal for Elliot. I wonder how many lunches it will take before he eats vegetables willingly again.