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!

Out of the mouths...

We were all working outside together trimming bushes and pulling weeds on this very windy morning in central Illinois. Shannon was helping me reach tall branches to trim when we heard a thump and Sara started crying. He attended to her and asked all the probing questions, "Did you trip? Did you skin your knee? Did you fall down? Did you get caught in Ivy's leash?"

No response on any of it--just crying.

"Did you hit yourself with your stick?" They had a stick that they were banging on the propane tank for a drum.

She finally paused and said "No."

"Well, what happened then?"

Sara gave us the answer we had been waiting for..."The wind blew me over."

Thankfully, I was behind the bush so she couldn't see me start to laugh!

Coupla crazy kids

Shannon had some yard work to do last night and he thought Adam might like to help. The edger was definitely cool but Adam stayed safely away. The blower, on the other hand...prepared with his "work boots" and noise-cancelling headphones, he was all set to spend extensive time blowing all the crud off the driveway!

Of course, when they were done, it made perfect sense to keep all his protective gear on for a bike ride. He should have included his helmet, though. He got to the end of the driveway, turned too fast, and wiped out, spilling the pennies in his basket all over the lawn!


And then you have Sara. Her imagination is certainly running wild these days! Last night was no exception. Every time I turn around she is pretending to be a different animal. Mama, I'm a fox...I'm a bunny...I'm a lemur...I'm a baby doggie...and then if I call her Sara, she requests that I call her whatever animal she is at the time instead! Here she is crawling on the ground and meowing like a kitty cat!


And crawling between my legs, purring...I wonder what the neighbors must think sometimes!


I love this picture of Adam, with the sun shining on the side of his face...I'll give you $50 if you can guess why one hand is over his ear and the other is in the air!


If you guessed both hands used to be over his ears because there was a loud noise but one hand is now reaching to close the camera's flash that had popped up, I'm out 50 bucks! Every time he closed it I would take another picture and it kept making him giggle.

Rainy day

It never fails - the weatherman in Central Illinois calls for sunny weather and a slight chance of rain but probably not...and it rains 3/4 of the day! After buckling the kids in the car to run errands yesterday, the Expedition refused to start. Plan B - play in the rain!

Poor Sara had a rain coat on that was 2 sizes too small because I couldn't find her current one!

How about a little mowing in the rain?


Or maybe a little singing, dancing, and twirling?


Maybe playing in the puddles is your thing...



How about going for a bike ride?


Adam just cracks me up. He dug around in the garage the other day and found a bungee cord. One end is already hooked on the bar that holds his back wheels on, then he put it around his waist and hooked it on the other side - voila! A seat belt! He was so proud of himself! That boy is gonna grow up to be some kind of problem solver, I tell ya!



That's how we play in the rain...what do you like to do ?

New swingset

You have NO idea how excited we are to say that we are finally finished building the kids' new swingset. I think the instructions should list hour requirements separately for working with the help of toddlers vs. without. We still had a lot of fun moments interacting with them outside, as well as some learning opportunities...like teaching Adam to point the teeth of a rake down when leaving it in the grass because if they are up and you step on it, the handle can fly up and hit you in the forehead.

The process has been long. I considered it to be an investment, something that I wanted to grow with them thru the years and not just apply to today. I also wanted it to be able to accommodate friends that might visit. When you belong to a Twins Club, the number of attendees at a playdate can increase quite quickly! Then there was the planning of where to put it and make sure the layout corresponded with the space. It took us weeks just to decide which swingset to buy. I'm guessing there were moments that we were making it harder than it needed to be. Let's be honest, I was making it harder than it needed to be. But in the end, I think it was worth it.

Let's walk thru the journey together!

April 15...
We finally decided which swingset to buy and headed to Menards to make the purchase. I think the excitement of the decision clouded our planning judgement! We showed up 20 minutes before closing time. As we walked out, it started pouring down rain. We have a 16' trailer, which we left at home for some reason. And we didn't even empty the contents of the Expedition! Thankfully it was a 1.5 mile drive home!


The kids thought it was a fun adventure having slides and rock walls crowding their seating space.


Adam held up the rock wall the entire way home, except for that small break he had to take because he said his arms hurt. A good teaching moment about what it feels like when lactic acid builds up in your muscles! Notice Sara peeking into the picture!


Weekend #1...
Another trip to Menards to pick up all the lumber. This time, trailer in tow! The kids were very helpful in stacking the boards up, the lumberyard security guy brought over 2 handfuls of candy (thanks?), and I was thankful I brought the travel potty because Sara had to pee three times within 90 minutes. Are you getting a sense as to how the kids can slow down the process of a building project?

Here's Adam helping Shannon get the boards ready to cut, ear protection and all.

Our friend Ryan and his girls spent the day helping us build the roofs and structural legs of the towers. Adam got plenty of lessons on how to run a drill and a hammer drill.


Shannon used the sod cutter to clear the area. Our neighbors lent us their teenage son and daughter for the afternoon to load the sod into a trailer to haul it away. Thanks Tia and Kyle!

The kids had a great time playing with Ryan's girls. We were so thankful they kept the kids occupied. Sara and Makayla spent hours just sitting in the grass and chatting.


Weekend #2...
We finished building the components of the towers and loaded them on the trailer to drive in the yard to assemble them. Kyle helped us quite a bit this weekend, too, and had fun learning about power tools!


First tower is assembled! As you can see, it was quite chilly this weekend. It felt like we went thru almost all the seasons by the time we were done building! Fall weather, cold stocking hat weather, rainy spring with mud everywhere, and mid summer 90 degrees!

The first tower was moved into place by Shannon, myself, and my mom. Sometimes you have to get creative by how you move heavy, awkward objects.


Weekend #3...
It's a little hard to tell from the picture but this was the weekend of mud. Adam is covered from head to toe. He was constantly running his bubble lawn mower in the mud, getting the wheels so caked that they wouldn't turn!


This is part of why it took a number of weekends to finish. On days that it was just Shannon and I working, the typical schedule was eat breakfast, work for an hour, fix the kids a snack, work for an hour, fix the kids lunch, try to get them to nap but they wouldn't because it was too exciting, work for 2 hours, fix the kids a snack, work for an hour, fix the kids dinner, work for an hour, throw the kids in the bathtub...and start the process all over again the next day!

A second tower built and moved into place by myself, my neighbor, her daughter, and Shannon!

Weekend #4...
Shannon had some uninterrupted time to work on it, well except for the interruption by the rain! The kids and I headed to Wisconsin for a long weekend and when we came back - slides! Here is Sara's first slide on the swingset.

And she sticks the landing!

Ta-da!


Adam's turn. Of course blankie had to watch from the ladder.

Schooop! He flew!


Weekend #5...
A delivery of Kiddie Cushion mulch - thanks for picking that up for us, Corey! Adam was so excited that Corey let him push the button to raise the dump bed.


After breakfast the kids had great fun playing on the mulch pile,

Dancing on the mulch pile,


Concentrating hard to help me spread the mulch,


Sliding down the mulch, you get the idea! While Shannon added accessories and put on the finishing touches, I spread the mulch. All 6 yards of it. By myself. In the heat. *whew*


The stairs were built, and the swings attached. Sara was practicing pumping her legs to swing on her own.

The built in picnic table was assembled under the tower just in time for the kids to enjoy lunch under there. For the record, it's a little crowded for all 3 of us to sit under there! The advantages of being 5'2".

Final pieces - building the rock wall and attaching the bronco swing that they can both ride at the same time.




Even looking back now, I'd have to say it was well worth all the hard work we put into it. I love where we put it even though a few more gray hairs were added to my head to make the decision. It gets good shade for most of the day. Now the kids have a sandbox, trampoline, playhouse, and swingset to occupy them - all visible from the kitchen window and back deck.

Big, big thank you to Grandma Marilynn and Grandma Sue and Grandpa George for contributing to the project - Adam and Sara will enjoy it for many years to come!