We opted to skip swimming lessons on Saturday morning in exchange for a trip to the petting farm. We met my co-worker/boss lady/friend there with her son, so Ben was loving having a buddy to hang out with. Ben LOVES the animals and isn't afraid of them at all. He must get that from his dad. :) He was a little bored waiting for our friends to arrive on the fake animals. Bring on the real ones!
This petting farm is a bit of a drive, but definitely worth it. I'm going to do my best to recap Ben's thoughts on some of the animals we saw. First up were the chickens. They were a little aggressive in their eating/pecking, so daddy did most of the work with the chickens.
Speaking of aggressive, check out these goats! You'd think they hadn't been fed all week! I definitely kept my distance.
Ben and daddy, on the other hand, were more than happy to feed them. "Little ones…cuuute!" Ben loves the little anything. "Little one!" about his pancake this morning. :)
Being on the other side of the fence from the goats was one thing, but going inside the fence was another. And Ben was on board. He was giggling so hard when the goats would jump up on Andy. I was scared enough for both of us.
Ben made sure to get some pets in.
I am not sure what the difference is between the goats, but there were two separate areas. Thankfully, the second group of goats were on a different diet so you couldn't feed them, only brush them. They were much more tame. Ben has grown a bit since last year's trip to the petting farm, but apparently he still rocks the same color combo.
Next up was the kitten barn, which was a little more my speed. Ben obviously approved as well. He loved trying to give the kitty the ball, just like he does with Auntie Anna's kitty. Luckily he isn't to the age where he asks for pets yet, because I'm pretty sure a kitty would be at the top of his list.
Since he loved the baby kittens so much, we stopped by the baby chicks next.
I thought he might have liked the little chicks more than he did, but I suppose they weren't as cuddly to hold.
Somewhat surprising was his love for milking the cow. First, he practiced on the fake cow.
Then, it was time for the real thing. He laughed hysterically when the milk squirt out, and of course, wanted to do it again and again.
Although I think it is a bit obvious that my primary role that morning was photographer, just for the record, I did pet an animal or two.
By the end of the day, either my fear of animal slobber was rubbing off on Ben, or he was just getting tired, but Ben ultimately reached his animal farm max. Notice him putting up his feet so that the piggies wouldn't get his piggies. That's a far cry from the boy who wanted kisses from nearly every other animal.
All in all, it was a successful trip to the petting farm. He was so excited about all of the animals he saw that he decided he didn't want to nap the rest of the day. This at least lead to an earlier bedtime. (Night #2 in his big boy bed!) An earlier bedtime left plenty of time for Andy and me to have a nice dinner. Andy was gone all last week, so he made me a delicious birthday dinner before he left. I'm getting hungry just looking at all that good food again...
Sunday was a busy family day because my Aunt from Texas was in town (dad's side) and my cousins from New York were in town (mom's side), so we had a lot of people to see in one day! Our first stop was my grandma's house to see my Auntie Laurie. I neglected to get a picture of her with Ben, but I did manage to get one of Ben being the center of attention, as usual!
I also managed to get a picture of Ben and Great Grandma. I think Ben is her favorite grandchild ever!
After Ben took a power nap in the car, it was time for family party number two: dinner at my mom's with my cousins on my mom's side of the family. There were about 20 people there including 4 kids 3 years old and under, so it was a little chaotic but oh so fun. Ben loves his cousin Simmy so much.
Possibly too much, but for the most part he is pretty gentle. :)
I'm missing one of the babies in this picture, but this is the best group shot that I have…
Ben had his usual for dinner that night.
In addition to a delicious dinner, we also celebrated my birthday! I can't remember what happened to the cake, but something or someone got at it. ;)
That didn't matter to Ben because he ate an ENTIRE PIECE of cake and was even asking for more cake the next day--happy birthday to me!
He was less interested in the candles, which I suppose is a good thing.
It seems like most of my iPhone pics are blurry, but I did manage to take a few pictures with my real camera. Good pictures too! Ben loves his Uncle Joe! Especially since he chased him as he ran into the woods in my mom's back yard.
He was so excited to see his cousin Theo again too. Partners in crime!
On Sunday night, Andy left for an immersion week for his grad school program. In other words, he left to allow Ben to be the first to wish me happy birthday at 3:00AM on Monday morning. :) I won't complain though, because the next night, he slept so well that I was able to shower and get dressed before he woke up! I had a decent day at work, but the highlight of my day was dinner with my family. We missed Andy, but we still had fun!
Thanks to my wonderful family for spoiling me on my birthday and basically everyday for that matter! 32 seems old but I can't complain! Life is so good. Looking forward to seeing what this year will bring!
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