Pictures at Carmel Beach

March 2016

On the day before Easter, A.J.'s Dance company met up at the beach in Carmel for pictures.  I dragged the whole family along so that the photographer could snap a few of Peter and Lucy as well.  (Yes I paid her for those extra shots.)  

Funnily enough we brought Molly along as it's a dog friendly beach and I thought she would help entertain the kids while they were waiting.  It worked.  Except Molly was off leash and A.J.'s friend brought her pet bunny along.  Yikes.  Things were going well enough until Peter sort of dropped the bunny down right in front of Molly.  There was a grand chase.  A bunch of other dogs joined in.  Thankfully Molly is dumb and kind of slow and the bunny escaped into some bushes.  All the other dogs were called off.  A grand search for the rabbit ensued and she was located eventually by a nice stranger who witnessed the entire event.

Wow.

That ranks way up there let me tell you.

Thank God the bunny escaped alive.

And in the end, here are the photos of the kids.

Also, here are a couple of the photos of A.J. and her Minis.

Slate Run Farm

A couple days after we arrived in Ohio, we decided to take advantage of the unseasonable warm (although still very Ohioy-wintry-GRAY) weather and take the kids to visit Slate Run, the local park that features an historical farm.  

The last time we were in Ohio, we'd taken Peter and A.J. and had a great time, you can click over and read about that HERE.  (Also marvel at how much Peter and A.J. have grown.   *sniff!*   Say it with me now:  "chubby little Peter and tiny bald A.J." )

Anyway, it was a teeny bit weird being back there again.  Like even though it had been 4 years, nothing had changed at all except the season. 

If you're wondering, NO, it really wasn't cold enough for Lucy to need her hat but she didn't care.

As we came in, one of the first field had chickens.  I wasn't sure we were ever going to get the kids to go past them.  Like, they would have been perfectly satisfied with the entire trip if all they'd done is stand there and stare at the chickens.

As we came up the drive to the house the stilts were out again.  These had been quite a hit the last time we'd visited and they were again this time.  

It was only when we promised there were probably horses and cows and things that we finally got to move on again. 

And in the barn, there WERE cows and horses and things.  So that was good.

For some reason everybody decided we needed to go upstairs in the barn to the hayloft.

After the barn, A.J. chased some ducks.

So did Lucy actually.  And of course, A.J. found a feather.  She's ALWAYS finding feathers.

The horses were outside.  In the mud.  There was mud everywhere actually.  

Still.

Those horses didn't exactly seemed thrilled.

Lucy liked them though.

In another little barn off to the side, we found the pigs.  Ever since I read the kids Charotte's Web over the summer, we go wild for pigs in this family.

There were several pig fat grown up pigs.

And there were 4 little child pigs.  There were running around like crazy between 2 stalls.  Splashing in the mud.
Tripping and climbing over one another.   My kids thought it was the best show they'd ever seen.

Some of the bigger pigs seemed like they wanted to get to know Peter.

Eventually, we escaped the pigs and moved on to some turkeys.

Lucy wasn't so sure she liked them sneaking up on her, even from behind the fence.

Peter didn't mind though.

The men working there said the herd of sheep were way out in a back field, but if we went to their gate they might come to see us.  We decided to check it out.

Peter found a shepard's crook waiting there against the fence.
Who knew they actually used those things?
I surely didn't....

When we got to the gate, the kids climbed and the sheep really did come over to see us.

There were a lot of them.  Since it was winter they were looking extra wooly and gray and dirty in general.
I was glad I hadn't worn my Ugg boots.  Then I might have felt guilty.....  

A.J. wanted to kiss the sheep.

When the kids lost interest in the sheep we headed back toward the main part of the farm.  A.J. and Lucy found every single mud puddle to step in along the way.

Peter got a kick out of the water pump.

For some reason then we ended up back at the pigs.  Only this time we were on the outside of their pens looking in rather than in the barn.  It was SUPER muddy out there and the kids found this extra hilarious.

I swear this one pig had a cross on Peter....

Next they found the corn grinder.  Again, this is one of those things the children found fascinating.

Pretty sure there was a GIGANTIC sign that said not to feed the ducks, but apparently we don't follow directions well...

Finally, we went inside the house.  There's not very much in there but it's neat to see the old timey kitchen, toys and their old fashioned Christmas tree was eat too.

Another one of my kids, fascinated with the marble run....

On the way out A.J. spotted the swing.  She does LOVE to swing so we all gave it a go.

Peter and A.J. tried the ring toss a bit.  Pretty sure they were both trying to cheat.

Finally, even Lucy had a try at the stilts.

On the way home, we stopped for ice cream.  That seems weird to me, especially in December but the kids (and Matt) were happy.  I got Buckeyes instead.