Farm Park

We had been wanting to go to the East Peoria Farm Park for a while. Well, I had been wanting to go. The kids had no clue what I was talking about. Last Tuesday the weather was perfect, maybe a little warm but that's okay. And it was a free day - bonus! The only downfall was that it was terribly crowded and apparently all the pushy kids with no manners were invited. Adam was confused by that a few times when he was waiting patiently but other than that, we would just move on and keep to ourselves.

It's a small little park but it's cheaper than the zoo and gives you a little something different to do.




Although it was a free day, it did set me back $1.00 to buy ice cream cones filled with food for the animals. What a great idea! All of the animals could eat the food and then they could eat the cone, too! In fact, some of the animals preferred the cone and tried to eat it right out of the kids' hands! I was surprised they didn't get more freaked out by that but they thought it was pretty neat.



First stop - the ducks! Not even 5 minutes into the park and another toddler lost their whole cone to the ducks. They plucked it right out of their hands and then swam off with it, 3 or 4 ducks swimming behind trying to steal it from him.


Sara enjoyed feeding the goats.

Even the chickens pecked at Adam's cone, taking off tiny pieces.


Adam loved this old tractor and thought it looked kind of like Grampa's.

The cow milking station! They had to wait quite a few minutes for the kids to clear out who would enter the line from the wrong direction. I must have been feeling extra patient that day! They finally each got a turn on the stool - amazing how you can get water from a wood cow!


Sara could have sat here for hours arranging her animals in a row.


I was shocked Adam let this horse eat out of his hand...he doesn't even like to pick up earthworms! The kid next to him didn't look too thrilled, though.


This was further back in the park. I think other families either forgot about these little goats or their food was gone by the time they were back that far. Thankfully, we had saved some and Adam got swarmed.



An old-fashioned schoolhouse for them to try. Hi, mom, we're in school!


Maybe next time they can ride on a real horse!


The first double slide I've seen. I tried to get them to go down at the same time but Sara was in a hurry.


Thanks, mom, for taking us to the Farm Park!


After we were done, we enjoyed a nice picnic lunch at the huge park right outside. Unfortunately I was mean and didn't let them play with the other kids who were throwing sand. Adam even waited patiently to sit on the excavator sand toy. Only to have the kid not want to give it up and then another kid walked in front of Adam, looked at him, said "my turn", and pushed the other kid off the seat. At that point I decided to call it a day. We all had a great time but I think it would be worth paying the few dollars admission to get a smaller crowd.

If anyone I know was there that day with their kids, hopefully my remarks didn't relate to your family. If they did, sorry if I may have offended you!