Last Thursday may have been one of the best road trips that Luke and I have taken. One thing that made this road trip so much fun was that we did not have to deal with any type of crowd. Matter of fact, we received one on one attention the entire trip. So, where did we go? We went to Mt. Ulla, NC to visit Patterson Farm. I cannot say enough about the hospitality that we received. Patterson Farm does a lot of neat things - strawberry picking in April and May, pumpkin picking and games in October, grow delicious tomatoes, and several other things that you can check out on their website.
Strawberry season is over and pumpkin season has not begun so Luke and I went in order to do their Learn and Grow Discovery Farm that they do pretty much year round. Because I knew it was going to be extremely HOT, Luke and I arrived at the farm as soon as it opened at 9:00am. We did some vegetable shopping while we waited on Ms. Millicent, the Discovery Farm director, to arrive. Around 9:15, Ms. Millicent took us to the barn to begin our tour. Millicent was extremely sweet - she interacted with Luke, was very knowledgeable about the farm and the barn animals, and what most impressed me was that she was extremely kind to every animal that the farm had.
We started our tour in the petting barn where there were billy goats, donkeys, sheep, a horse, a bunny, and chickens. Many of the billy goats are so tame that the staff will let them out and let the guests pet them. It was really cute hearing Millicent tell us the names of several of the goats. Because Luke was small, Millicent chose the smallest billy goat in the group to let out with us. Her name was Fudge - she was a baby billy goat that had been bottle fed by the Patterson Farm staff. Fudge was great! She let Luke pull on her ears, rub her back, and feed her. We got some of the cutest pictures of Luke and Fudge, and, surprisingly, I actually show up in a picture because sweet Millicent offered to take a picture for us! :)
After we said good-bye to Fudge, Millicent got out a huge, furry bunny for Luke to pet. Luke wasn't quite as interested in the bunny. He was still amused by the billy goats and their very loud BAA sounds! :)
After leaving the petting barn, we began picking our vegetables. Millicent gave Luke a basket and then walked him from one vegetable plant to the next to pick one or two or three. Millicent was very patient with Luke. She didn't care at all that Luke picked 5 carrots instead of one. The carrots were his favorite. Next, we visited the cow barn where Luke pretended to "milk" the cows, collected some chicken eggs for his bucket, and then picked some apples from the apple tree outside of the barn. No, it wasn't a real apple tree....they have some real apple trees but they have the cutest little fake one that is just the right height for little hands to reach. (The vegetable garden was the same way. Behind every fake vegetable plant that the kids pick from was the real plant that the kids can see the vegetables growing on.) It's really neat - you should check it out.
After finishing our trip through the apples, milk, eggs, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, cotton, and strawberries, our baskets were full. The goal is to take your basket back to the market, "sell" your vegetables and receive a $1 Patterson buck that you can use for a free cone of ice cream. Well, Luke was highly distracted at this point and didn't want to carry his bucket anymore - he was highly distracted by...
the big green John Deere tractor that was small enough for him to ride. In the tractor barn, there were about 5 of these tractors and Luke's eyes lit up when he saw them. He said, "tractor" over and over. Of course, he wouldn't say it on video(as usual). :) Ms. Millicent pushed him on several tractors and then after she left to turn in our buckets of vegetables for us, Luke rode for 20 to 30 more minutes. He would go from one tractor to the next while I pushed him in circles in the hay.
After he rode all of the tractors as many times as he wanted, we walked to the playground. Yes, they have a playground too - very cool! Luke rode the John Deere tricycles they have, climbed on the two wooden playground ships, rode the horse swings, and climbed on the big wooden tractor. He had a ball!
By this time, we were both sweating profusely so I asked Luke if he was ready to go get our Patterson buck and get that free ice cream. He gave me the "yes" head nod and off we went to the market. At the market, the staff was super sweet as I expected! The little ice cream lady scooped us some strawberry and some vanilla ice cream into cups and then showed us a quiet little place on the porch where we could go sit and eat our ice cream. I sat in one rocking chair and Luke sat in the other as we ate our ice cream. Fun, fun times! After our ice cream, Luke and I headed to the car. To my surprise, Luke began to cry. He is usually so exhausted after our trips that he will gladly get into the car to relax. Well, not this time, he kept pointing to the tractor barn and crying.
The only way I was able to calm him down was to tell him that I was going to take him to a playground so he could slide and we would eat our picnic lunch. And, that's what we did. We drove about 5 minutes away to Sloan Park. It has a very large playground and a large picnic shelter close by. When we arrived, Luke was super excited. He went straight to the big slide and he and I slid down that slide many, many times. I love sliding with him! He hangs on to my arms with his tiny hands and grins as he says, Weeee!!!
As usual, he made some friends. He chased a little girl about 3 years old and a little baby that was barely walking around the playground. He followed the little girl up the steps and down a slide several times. After playing for awhile, we sat at the picnic table for our lunch. Luke ate some tomatoes and wheat crackers. I couldn't believe he actually sat down with me to eat for about 10 minutes. But, then, off he went - while I finished my lunch, he looked for sticks, rocks, and leaves. Before long, he was ready for some more climbing and sliding. In between the climbing, I was able to get him to play a few games of peek a boo with me and then he let me hold him on the swings for a few minutes - that was my favorite part! I loved having him sit in my lap as we swung. I hugged him and kissed him and told him how much I love him - moments like those make the 98 degree weather go away and will stick in my mind forever!
About 12:30, we had to go - it was so hot that we couldn't take it anymore. Luke's little face looked like a tomato - it was so red - and he was soak and wet from sweat. Luke whined a little when leaving the park but I think the air condition felt so good that he didn't put up too much of a fight.
He was asleep in the car very quickly! :)
On the way home, I just smiled and smiled thinking about the fun we had! I highly recommend that you visit Patterson Farm - I'm now their biggest fan! The cleanliness and hospitality will lure me there to visit again soon - probably for some pumpkin picking!
Here are some pictures of our fun time at the farm...
That was Fudge! Here is Millicent!
Now....onto the play dates...this week, Luke had two play dates with some very special people in our family. On Monday, Caleb (my nephew who lives in Texas) and Lexi came over to play. Luke and I were super excited to see Caleb. We don't get to see him much and he is a very sweet boy! He is getting ready to start middle school - I can't believe it. He's such a hansom man and has great manners. He and Lexi played great with Luke! Our second play date this week was with my grandaddy. Luke loves my grandaddy - he has ever since he was tiny! Luke and I try to go to his house and visit as much as we can and then sometimes Grandaddy stops by our house to say hello. At Grandaddy's, Luke went riding on the Hummer through some pretty rough terrain - I joined them for part of the ride and was scared to death! :) Luke also enjoyed feeding Grandaddy's dog (Kiki) some crackers.
I was so grateful for the time that Luke had with our family this week. Thanks Caleb, Lexi, and Grandaddy for a great time!
Here are some pictures....
Luke with Grandaddy...
Luke with Caleb and Lexi...
Here are some videos:
Luke with Caleb and Lexi...
Here are some videos: #1-Luke helping Caleb and Lexi build a tower.
#2-Luke on the Hummer with Grandaddy
#2-Luke on the tractor with the background noise of sheep BAAs! :)
That's all for now! We have two more Thursday road trips planned before I go back to work! This week's road trip will be a repeat of a fun place we visited early in the summer but this time we are meeting my friends Tiffanie and Lindsey and their kids. It will be a road trip and play date combined! I can't wait!
Stay tuned for another blog before then!
Toddy
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