We hit up the Art Barn, a local farm where children can pet, tend to, and experience life with cows, horses, donkeys, sheep, goats, bunnies, chickens, roosters, and pigs. The kids can brush and feed the animals and even help scoop up the poo (woo hoo!). At the end of the morning, there's lunch, an art project, and a tractor ride thrown into the mix just for the heck of it.
I kept it a complete surprise for the kids because even though I reserved our spot last week, I wasn't sure we would go. Because I'm a clean-freak. It's taken a lot of effort for me to hold back and not bathe these little guys six times a day. I swear to Steve Jobs that the first day the twins came home from preschool, I rubbed them down with wet wipes. In my mind, if I used wipes instead of a washcloth, then it wasn't really like bathing them and I could get away with it. Yeah, I was that bad.
Yesterday was all about Look at that horse! and Can we pet the pig?* and I wanna give the bunny a hug! It was also about me, mentally repeating to myself Yes, Heather. It's OK. It's OK. Dirt is OK. Farm dirt is OK. Poo smell is OK. Holding a baby chick isn't going to kill them or you. Just. Frakking. Chill.
And as I slowly relaxed, I realized that, hey. I used to spend summers on my grandfather's cattle farm. I baled hay and gave cows their injections and fell into, YES FELL INTO, cow patties, and hugged, YES HUGGED, many a cow. And I loved it. And I didn't die from a bacterial infection. And there are babies in Namibia** who crawl around in the dirt and live to adulthood.
As the day progressed, I no longer saw the dirt. What I did see were my three kids, having a great time.
Petting the baby chicks!***
And blossoming.
And the best part? We washed our hands before we left and didn't even bathe before bed. I'm getting better all thanks to a little dirt.
* Seriously, ya'll. That pig? Up there in the 5th picture? I want one just like it. Yeah. I see a house pig in my future.
** This documentary looks beyond precious. Anybody want to go with me?
*** My sweet Bubba has a lisp and when I hear him shout that sentence? It just melts me into a gigantic puddle of AWWWWWWW!
13 comments:
Cows deserve a lot of hugs. They're such gentle creatures and give so much.
A pity they taste so delicious to the meat-eaters among us!
Holy Cow, woman! Those kids are just as cute as their Mom!!
It's all good for them. That's how you develop an immune system.
I love hugging cows. And baby pigs make me crazy (in a good way).
Can't. Stand. The. Cuteness!!!!
Yay for dirt!!!
Me and mine will live forever, mating with cockroaches. 'Cause dirt and us are friends.
i wanna tell you how proud i am of you for letting them get dirty and be kids, yet i wanna holler, YOU COULDN'T WAIT UNTIL FRIDAY, EH?
(terrific photos...thanks for sharing)
p.s. i hope it rains when i am there so i can teach them the joys of mud puddles with mommy's batshit crazy friend.
And I thought my kids were bad for wanting me to buy baby chicks. A pig?! In your house???!! Eeeeeek.
I don't know how you can be a clean freak AND a mother of three. I'm not a clean freak, but I get driven nuts by the mess that one toddler can generate!
I lasted almost one year with my first kid. He was sooo clean. After that....no so much. A happy kid is frequently a dirty kid.
I've got a bit of the germ freak in me, too...but she gets grubby when she's at preschool so I don't have to do so much of the dirt stuff myself ; )
I totally want a house pig, too. If it wasn't for the need to have a dirt patch for them to roll in, I would get one right now.
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