Boats, Trams and Horses

Christian has had alot of adventure the last several days.  The preschool took all the kids to Forest Park on Thursday morning and they rode in the paddle boats.  He had SO much fun, he's still talking about it tonight.  I was supposed to go as a chaperone, but due to a deadline at work, I wasn't able to make it.  I was really bummed because it's the first time he's been in a boat, or on water like that, and I was part concerned about how we would react and the other part didn't want to miss his excitement, if it went in that direction. He did great, he loved it and I stayed at work so I could make the house payment :)  The kids in his boat got excited when they saw the ducks and stood up, only to be quickly told by the teacher to sit down!  The water is around two feet deep where they were, so that's a plus.

We did more play-doh on Friday and I was trying to think of what we could do over the upcoming HOT weekend...again.  To my delight, we woke up to 80 degree weather on Saturday, so I decided to head out to Grant's Farm.  I wanted to get there as early as possible to avoid the rising heat that was coming, so we got there a few minutes after they opened. On the way there, I was preparing Christian for everything we would do and see, including the tram ride. I told him that he had to stay sitting down or he might fall out and it was my job as his Mommy to keep him safe, so he needed to listen to me. We walked right up to the tram, I had one leg up and he pushed back saying, "no, no, no."  Inwardly I groaned.  I told him it would be alright, picked him up, climbed on and sat him on my lap. He was leaning out trying to get off and thankfully one of the workers saw my predictament.  He came over and started chatting with Christian, telling him all the animals he would see, making animal noises and funny faces.  Christian immediatley calmed down and then pointed forward saying, "go, go."

Off we went on the tram ride and we saw so many animals.  At every turn, Christian was like, "Oh!, Oh!"  We came around one bend and a very large cow with very large horns was sitting right at the edge of the road.  These animals are so used to these trams that they are not fazed by them at all.  When we passed the cow, Christian leaned back against me and said, "Whoa!"  turned to me and said, "see that?"  I told him we would see some horses and after every animal we saw, he would ask me if horses were next.  He zeroed in on horses and kept asking over and over and over, I was so glad that tram stopped so we could get to the horses.

The Goats.  Anyone who has been to Grant's Farm, knows about The Goats. We bought the milk bottle and I asked Christian several times if he was sure he wanted to go inside the pen with the hundreds of crazy little goats.  I didn't really say that, but you can tell my level of love for these little creatures.  Another little boy was inside and being basically mauled by three goats, up on their hind legs with the forelegs on the kid's chest, pushing to get his milk bottle.  I told Christian that the goats will jump up on him like that little boy.  He wanted to go inside.  Who am I to keep him from experiencing new things right?  Through the turnstile we go, one goat was there to greet Christian, eye to eye, "UP!, UP!, OUT!, OUT!" Now this wonderful place has the exit turnstile across the pen, so with Christian in my arms still shouting out, I wade through the goats, trying not to trip over them.  One was brazen enough to jump up on me and got my shorts filthy.  I was not pleased.  We stood outside the pen and Christian held the bottle for a goat who stuck his head through the fence. We made it out of The Goats alive!

We saw all the animals, between the "horses, horses" request and headed for the stables. We hiked across the parking lot to the Clydesdales and Christian LOVED them! He wanted to pet the horses that were in their stalls, behind the bars, but none of them would come close enough. We went outside and two smaller horses were standing at the fence, letting everyone pet them, so we headed over. He was squealing with excitement, saying he wanted to pet them over and over.  When we got close, I think he realized how big they were and decided he didn't want to get close. After some coaxing, we got to the fence and I managed to get him to pet the horse twice, but that was enough for him.  As we left, he wanted to go back and pet them.....figures.  I'm just glad he had a good time and we made it back home before the temperature reached it's 94 degree mark!
~Amy