This was our official Last Homeschool Field Trip for the school year. We entered the fair with a group of other homeschoolers. I'm really grateful to have had this opportunity the last few years, because we probably wouldn't go without the incentive of free admission and free parking.
Homeschoolers generally aren't great about all doing the same thing, so we got some group photos right away before everybody headed off in different directions to do their own things.
We were only a few minutes in when I said to the kids, "Hey, let me get a picture, in case you guys get lost!" I know I'm not the only mom who thinks like this. I don't want to come up blank when I'm asked what my child was wearing when they disappeared. When the big kids were little, I spent most of every outing counting to 7 to make sure no one had wandered off.
With that safety precaution out of the way (and my cell phone number on all the kids) we were free to start enjoying the scenery. Including turtles the size of laundry baskets.
This animal rescue was here last year. This is a cavy and a wallaby, and they're friends.
The kids wanted to go through and see the animals again as we were leaving. The second time through, the tiger was facing the opposite direction. But when we saw him, he didn't move much.
This big kitty was sticking his tongue out.
We spent some time wandering around the exhibits, and looking at the educational stuff, but we spent a lot more time on the rides this year.
When I went to buy some tickets, the guy asked how many kids I had. Turns out, it was cheaper to get the 3 of them wristbands than it was to get a batch of 50 tickets, so we did that instead.
The only downside was that I couldn't go on any rides with them.
Which wasn't much of a downside, since they were having a blast.
We wandered through the barn, looking for friends showing sheep, came across friends showing bunnies instead, and then found a quiet, out of the way picnic area behind the barn, so we sat down to eat the lunches we'd brought.
I laughed when another homeschool mom was saying, "This is the one time a year he gets a Lunchable." Her preschooler son would not let go of it while we were waiting to get in. I realized this is pretty much the one time a year my kids get Lunchables, too.
I was a little nervous about the kids going up on the Ferris wheel (with no seat belts) without me, but they had a great time. And I found a bench to sit on in the shade for a few minutes.
I like the giant slide. Jack likes the giant slide.
Katie likes the giant slide.
Hannah, not so much.
Katie was too short for the big swings, and Hannah declined, so Jack went on those while the girls...
...went on the more grounded Jeeps.
Not sure how Hannah ended up on the tilt a whirl, but she didn't like it.
The flowers made a nice backdrop for a picture while Jack went on something they were too small for.
Turns out, Jack didn't like this one after all.
The serpent was more their speed.
The guy at the merry go round said, "You can go on with them," when the girls ran up to go on the empty carousel. I told him I didn't have a wrist band, and he said, "That's okay."
I was about done at this point, but the kids had seen a couple more rides from the merry go round that they wanted to check out, and since they had wrist bands, I kind of felt like we needed to get our money's worth.
So they did a couple more rides.
As we were getting ready to leave, I ran into another friend and asked her to take a picture for us. This was at the end of what my phone tells me was more than 7,000 steps, and we're all still smiling, so I'm calling the day a success.
Much as I miss having little ones, I have to admit it's easier to get out and do things without strollers and diaper bags. Trying to see the silver lining to this weird changing season of life I find myself in.
This post may be linked up at these linky parties.
Thanks for clicking for us!
No comments:
Post a Comment