Field Trip

Kate had her first field trip last week...wouldn't be fall without a trip to the pumpkin patch!  And this turned out to be so much more than just pumpkins!  We got to go to Vollmer Farm out in Bunn, NC.  And the bonus was that they had rescheduled the date for the trip so it worked out that Mom was here and could go with us!  Yay!!  Here's the crew on a brisk and beautiful NC morning.

First stop was to meet Bandit the calf.  Here she is with her little barn in the background.  She was 43 days old when we were there.

Here's the kids learning all about cows!

They had a simulated milking set up (it was really just water and not a real cow of course).  Here's Kate trying her hand at milking a cow.  She got it on the first try!  I told her Pa would be proud :)

Here we are loaded up on the tractor to go tour the farm.  It's 100 acres and a fully working farm.  I think they said they've had four generations farming it.  They grow lots of different vegetables and are certified organic, plus in the spring you can come out and pick strawberries and blueberries!  Yum!

Some of Kate's friends from school (from l. to r. Kate, Charlotte, Emma and Elijah)

Next stop after the ride was a lesson on making butter.  All you need is heavy cream, nuts and bolts.  Who knew you could use hardware to do something like that?!  Here's Mrs. Kim putting the nuts and bolts into the jar.  

Everybody got to take a turn shaking the jar to make the butter.  We sang a little churning song using each child's name.  Here's Kate taking her turn.

Carter got to have a turn too!  Churn butter churn!

Checking out the finished product!  How cool!  We all got to sample it on Saltine crackers...tasty and easy to do!  My kind of recipe!!

Now onto the huge playground area.  Here's Kate and Elijah rolling around in these huge pipes, having a big time!

Kate and Carter on the choo-choo

My little monkey

Beautiful patch of sunflowers...bet they were a sight at full bloom!!

Kate and Anna Kate Lyon on the "Cool" Bus!

Carter and his buddy Abby Lyon hanging out while their big sisters jumped on the huge jumpy pillow thing!

Everyone got to pick a little pumpkin from the pumpkin patch before we left.  Here are Kate, Carter and Anna Kate showing off their pumpkins!  The kids didn't want Hudson to be left out, so Carter has an extra pumpkin for him.  They lined them all up on our porch next to our big pumpkin when we got home...and it was a pumpkin family :)

So glad Mimi was here to come with us!!  What a fun day!