Mommy/Daughter Date: Farmer Mark's Pumpkin Patch

When a friend who used to be in our ward sent out an email about a trip to Farmer Mark's for this past Tuesday, a couple of days ago, I knew that we would go.  Roo had gone with her kindergarten class just last Friday (the school is across the street), so Miami was excited to do the same exact field trip that her big sister had done.  Since the hubby had worked the entire night before, he was home sleeping while Bubs napped, so me and Miami got to go on a date.

It was so nice to walk around with her, even though she was basically running around.  We got to do a tour with all of our other friends from the ward and there were a lot of kids there.  In the spring, the farm is a strawberry patch.  We had previously picked strawberries here when Miami was just a newborn.  I think this upcoming spring we'll have to go and do it again.

Farmer Mark showed us some honeycomb and where he keeps his bees.  He also showed us the strawberry patches.  I think he said they have around 30,000 strawberry plants in the field.  So many!  There was a nice little pond with some ducks in it in the back.  While Farmer Mark was talking about the strawberries, Miami decided that she was going to follow some little boys down toward the pond and throw pinecones over the fence.  I couldn't persuade her to stay, so we went and threw pinecones until the tour continued.  She loved kicking the dirt around as she walked and in the process, got her boots really dirty.

The next stop was the chicken coop.  Farmer Mark showed us how a chicken can fly (when you throw it over a fence), and let the kids throw kernels of corn into the coop to feed them.  Miami absolutely loved this.  She probably took ten handfuls to throw in and feed the chickens.  The kids also had the chance to pet the chicken.  Miami is my child who loves the concept of animals, but when it comes time to get near them, she tells us that she is "just a little scared."  Surprisingly, she touched the chicken a few times.

After the chickens, we got to see the cow.  We had to keep our distance, and since Miami wasn't a fan of that, she started playing in a dirty ditch with some other kids.  She loved picking up the dirt and sand in the ditch and throwing it.  As our outing went on, she got filthier and filthier.  When I tried to motion to her to come back to me, she gave me a little smirk and tried to walk away from me.  Too bad she's so cute!

She didn't really care to have her picture taken with the cow, but she was excited when Farmer Mark talked about having chocolate milk and showing us how to milk a cow.  We tried to keep going on the tour and see the goats and woodchuck, but Miami decided it was time to just go into the pumpkin patch with one of her friends.  Luckily, I was able to snap a few pictures of her before she went and sat in the dirt with her friend.  They playing happily, pouring dirt in their shoes, while I got to talk with my friend, Amanda.  The tour went long though, so we had to leave soon after and quickly pick a pumpkin.  We had a running race back to the car, and Miami was able to run almost the entire way (which was decently long).

Miami had so much fun and I enjoyed the one-on-one time.  On the drive home, she told me how we are going to paint pumpkins with Roo for our weekly Friday Family Fun Night.  And after Roo got home from school, both girls compared their tours and realized that they were able to see all of the same things, which made them happy!