A Couple of City Boys

Last week, I took the boys to Farm Days, an event sponsored by the College of Agriculture and Life Science at NC State.  We had the BEST time.  It is so crazy looking back on last year's experience at this same event, when Kaden was still an only child and too terrified to do anything.  This year, he was so excited about everything.  He told me it was the best day ever, and I have to agree.  It was a pretty stellar outing, despite Everett choosing to poop while we were in line waiting to hold the baby chicks, which meant we got to endure that miserable part of the experience twice.  (And let's pretend there weren't two horrible teachers on field trips with their elementary classes who cut in front of us the second go around.  That's TWO groups of 20+ kids.  So.  Incredibly.  Rude.)

Anyway, I relish any opportunity to expose my kids to the country life that was once my own, although it kind of seems like a dream, since it was so long ago. 

When I was growing up, I had two sets of friends whose fathers were dairy farmers.  Milk fresh from the cow was not a foreign concept to me.  In fact, when I would go play at my friend Rachel's house, we used to climb to the top of fences like the one pictured below, spread out our arms, and wait for the cows (likely looking for some hay or grain to fall from our human hands) to flock to us.  "We're famous!"  we'd shout. We'd tell the cows a few knock-knock jokes, wave, or perform a short dance.  The cows were a captive audience and would stand there, chewing their cuds, staring.  It may not sound like a great time to you, but when you're ten and live in the middle of nowhere, it's quality entertainment.  Farm Days is nothing like that, however, because there are swarms of people.  A massive crowd you try to weave your way through to see all the various exhibits.  Even so, I'm glad we went.          

My new favorite picture of my boys:

Kaden may have asked me if this was a pretend cow.  Sheesh.  In hindsight, I guess his choosing to sport a fedora to the countryside should have indicated to me that he was no country boy.    

Everett was such a trooper the entire time.  So happy and smiley!

In Kade's defense, there were fake cows there, which he tried to "milk."

You can see a video of Kade milking a fake cow, here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyDG4_xVJrU

Like I said, Everett was the smiliest guy on the planet almost the entire time we were there!

Waiting in line to try out the tractors:

He chose this candy apple red number first:

And he was pleased as punch after climbing into the driver's seat:

Still smiling, even though he was too little to drive a tractor of his own!

He made sure he put on a seat belt when he climbed into the cab of this combine:

And he was a bit worried when this vehicle didn't have a seat belt (just one more red flag screaming that he's not a farm kid):

After the tractors, we found some vanilla ice cream:

Kaden was so excited to see the pigs, since we are currently reading Charlotte's Web.  We decided this little guy could definitely pass for Wilbur:

The crowning moment of the entire afternoon was definitely getting to hold this fluffy little fella:

Video footage is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD56km1H5b8

He roped a "steer":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zborA0dAN3o

And what's not to love about an outing that ends in a second helping of ice cream.  We finally ran into our friend Jack, right before we left, so I decided to let Kade have "Everett's" chocolate ice cream, so we could visit with him for a bit.  

You may recall that I once lamented the fact that Kaden can't possibly enjoy the same childhood I did.  I still have moments where I yearn for some of those "country" things for him, but I like to think he's having his own taste of a golden childhood.  Two ice creams in one day?  When you're a kid, that's pretty golden. Hopefully, if I cram enough stuff like this in, it can make up for the days I botch as a mom.