A Trip To Grants Farm

This is what a morning at Grants Farm will do to you.

After a late night Monday night we got up early Tuesday to spend the morning at Grants Farm. We got there about 9:00 and walked right up to the gates for the tram. It was pretty quiet there still.

Mommy and Dane on the tram

Dane really liked the tram ride and he looked at all of the sights along the way to the main part of Grants Farm. He sat on Mama's lap for most of the ride and kept pointing things out to her.

We were able to see quite a few animals while on the tram.

When we got off the tram Mama bought all of the kids "fun passes" which gave them all 2 bottles to feed the goats, a ride on the carousel, and a snowcone.

Our first stop was to feed the goats. Taylor, Delaney, and Trey stayed outside the fence.

Trey later went into the pen to brush the goats.

Dane said, "In", so Dave took him in to feed the goats.

It was easy at first.

But then they all wanted the bottle.

Once they seemed to be overtaking Dane Dave scooped him up.

Dane came outside the fence to finish feeding.

He loved this.

All of the kids outside the goat pen

Next stop was the carousel ride

We saw an Animal Encounters show, elephants, a giant tortoise and other animals before taking a break to eat a snowcone.

Since we were already in the courtyard we went into the stables.

We usually had to lift Dane up to see the animals, but this little window was perfect for him.

We saw camels and emus before we headed out. Dave and Dane fed these animals as well.

He would just crack up when the animals would snatch up the food.

We saw just about everything and it was starting to get hot and we were all getting hungry.

We got the tram to go back to the main gate.

The Clydesdales' Stables are in the parking lot so we made one last stop.

Dane stuck with Taylor during the walk through the stables. He saw her petting the Clydesdales.

He jumped right in and started petting them as well.

After we left Grants Farm we went to Subway to grab lunch and went to a park to eat and play. Once we left the park Dane was asleep in 10 minutes. He was still holding his postcard with a picture of horses on it that Mama got him in the General Store. When he woke up 3 hours later he started talking about the animals.

Fourth of July

We had a lot of fun this 4th of July. We were so happy Dave was on vacation from work for the week! We spent time at home with neighborhood friends and then time in Kirkwood with Mama and Papa and the rest of the family.

Sunday morning Dave and Dane worked on decorating Dane's wagon for the Lake Forest Kids parade on Monday morning.

Dane was excited to have it decorated and pulled it around the yard for a few minutes.

The finished product!

Lake Forest had fireworks planned for Sunday night this year. We had plans to spend the afternoon and evening with friends. It was so hot that about 11:00 we decided to go to the pool for a little bit. We swam for about an hour and a half, then came home for lunch and a nap before getting together with friends. As Dane went to sleep it started thundering and got really dark. I thought this was the scattered shower we had a 30% chance of having. I packed for our trip to Kirkwood, Dane slept, and Dave went down to help Troy set up for the afternoon fun in the sun we were supposed to have once nap was over. About 3:30 Dave came home to get Dane and I and we were in the middle of a severe thunderstorm. We went down to the Deters where we let the kids play, watched the lake get higher and higher, and rode out the storm in the basement as all of the inflatable toys the guys got ready laid in the pouring rain. It was so crazy! We had a lot of fun despite the fact that we had to stay inside all day and the fireworks were cancelled for Sunday night.

Monday morning we got up to cloudy skies. As long as it wasn't raining at 9:30 a.m. the Kids Parade was on. We had planned to have fun on the beach and play games after the parade, but the beach was such a mess from the storm we had to cancel that part and just have the parade.

Dane was in his wagon ready for the parade.

Dane and 5 of his little friends. One girl and five boys in the group!

The Lake Forest Fire Department led the parade.

Waiting to jump in the parade line

Dane and his buddy, Lauren, from down the street.

After the parade the kids got the chance to spray the fire hose.

Dane loved it and took his turn for quite a while!

Daddy and Dane in front of the Lake Forest Fire Truck

Sitting in the truck

Spraying the bigger hose with Daddy

After the parade we went back to the house and got ready to go to Kirkwood. Dane took a nap on the way up, so he was ready to play. He was so excited to play with Trey and Delaney.

Playing golf

Ready to eat!

The little ones having dinner

Getting ready to go to Kirkwood Park for fireworks!

Aunt Katie and Dane

Walking to the fireworks with Daddy

The Frosts and Dane

Taylor took the kids to the playground for a while, then Mama, Aunt Amy, and I walked over. Dane and Claire were having a ball, but we finally got them gathered up to walk back.

Dane loved being at the park. The kids had a blanket in the middle with the adults in chairs around them. Dane would sit for a few minutes, then jump up and run. He would stop and get a drink from Papa and a snack from Aunt Amy. He just had a ball!

Playing with the glow in the dark flag from Aunt Amy.

Having a pre-fireworks snack with Aunt Katie

The lights in the park went out and he was ready to watch fireworks on Daddy's lap. He also moved to Mommy and Aunt Amy.

I was worried about how Dane would do at the fireworks. He doesn't really like loud noises. He loved them. He would point to the sky and say, "Boom, Boom."

We had a fun, fun, 4th of July!