Fun on the Farms

FIRST FARM: Today was a very busy day at MPA. We had not one, not two, but three field trips.

Late this morning, Christian had an appointment to connect with a friend for lunch. I thought that would be an opportunity for us to explore some uncharted territory, so I searched the Internet for nearby parks. The kids and I dropped Christian off at his rendezvous spot and headed for Bellevue's wonderful Kelsey Creek Farm Park.

Just a few blocks from the hustle and bustle of "new" Bellevue, this gem is 150-acres of forest, meadows and wetlands providing a glimpse of the city's rural past. The grounds are gorgeous and well tended. The farm has two historic barns sitting atop a hill with pretty valley views on each side. Farm animals are out to pasture or in the barnyard 365 days a year.
We saw a lot of livestock at Kelsey Creek: chickens (including pretty little bantams), geese, goats, hogs and horses. It was a great place for learning, because there were many signs/stations dotting fences all over the property, where a question relating to farm life would be posed, and the answer could be revealed by flipping a flap up.

This popular place receives over 250,000 visits each year. There is no admission charge, but donations are gladly accepted.

Built in 1888, the historic Fraser Cabin sits on the hilltop, adjacent to the park's dairy barns. We didn't get to see the inside, but on the outside it really looked like it was assembled just like Lincoln Logs, with huge timbers notched and stacked. There were gorgeous plantings around the farmyard, including a thick stand of sunflowers, which the bees loved. We enjoyed watching them collect pollen.

There was a small playground on the grounds, but it was mostly for the toddler set. I told the kids that during my research I'd noticed one other park in close proximity and asked them if they wanted to check it out. Their answer was "Of course!" of course!

SECOND STOP: Less than a mile away from fantastic Kelsey Creek Farm was Bellevue's Willburton Park.

The city's Web site says the 105.49 acres site is the "largest upland park in the city." There are ballfields and trails aplenty, but what the kids were hot for was the playground.

Right away they spotted - and made a beeline for - a spider web structure. How fun! We'd been there for several minutes before CJ discovered the wicked awesome zipline! You know we love us some ziplines! It was about the same length as the one we love in our neighborhood (at Discovery Park), but this one is newer and, well, a bit zippier. I wish I had scream-o-vision, so you could hear Annabelle's squeal the first time she rode it. :)

OCTOBER EXTRAVAGANZA: We picked Christian up around 1 and headed north to Snohomish County and our top billed destination of the day - Swans Trail Farms. Based on their Web site it looks like most of the year they do weddings and other special gatherings there. However, this time of year, it's all about fun for the kids and fall harvest time.

Famous for being "Home of the Washington State Corn Maze," we bought a Groupon coupon for the place giving our family carte blanche to enjoy it all - the maze, two nice putt putt golf courses, a pumpkin patch, a great kids play area, the petting zoo, a hay jump, a hay maze, and on and on and on for a very good price (about $25 as I recall).

The farm encompasses 125 acres along the Snohomish River and it was a fall fantasy land. :)

We started out with the maze. We walked along the WA/OR border. There, at "Ilwaco" at the northern edge of the mouth of the Columbia River, the kids discovered a shipwreck. We continued eastward to "Idaho" and entered Washington just north of Pullman.

The map the farmhands gave us for the interior of the maze was really good - plenty of detail, and the paths inside were clearly marked. The kids took turns making decisions about which way to go in the maze.

Some of the paths (major freeways like I-5 and Highway 2) were wider than others (for instance smaller mountain passes). However, we never got stuck or dead-ended.

After the maze, we headed right to the pumpkin patch. Annabelle and CJ wasted no time in picking out pumpkins. We parked those for later payment and rushed across the farm to catch the much ballyhooed duck race. Several ducks raced down a water course (swimming frantically toward a feeding bin), and then hopped out and ran/flew back to their coop (where another feeding bin awaited, no doubt.). It was a hoot.

Afterward, we wandered over to a small building. There we found a room with a corn pit, for lack of a better term. It was a room about 12 by 12 and its floor was covered in dried corn kernels about 1.5 to 2-feet deep. The kids had a blast sinking and spinning and sitting and so on in it. Annabelle made a corn angel. CJ tried to swim in it. Next, we strolled over to the fun kids' playground. The kids rode some rubber tire horse swings. They also went down some simple but super fun culvert slides (sitting atop burlap sacks made them a pretty fun ride!).Then it was off to the hay jump - where hay bales were stacked high and the kids jumped into a pit filled with hay. And then it was off to our second petting zoo of the day. That was followed by a two-story barn turned into a great hay maze. (CJ was the one who discovered the stairs to the loft). The exit back down to the first level involved going down a slide. The kids each took several turns going down.

But wait - there's more! We had to get some golf in!

There were two nice 9-hole putt-putt courses on site. Though our house overlooks a golf course, driving range and putt putt course, ironically, our kids have VERY limited experience golfing (the last time they picked up a club was in Orlando in March). They were happy to have a chance to chase a ball around the greens today.


Their form was rough and they were several over par on each hole, but they seemed not to mind.

HUNGRY HIPPOS: By the time we got done at the last farm, it was after 3 p.m. Save a bag of Goldfish the kids shared, the kids and I had nothing to eat since breakfast. We were seriously hungry.

We decided to stop for a really late lunch/early dinner in Mukilteo at Diamond Knot Brewery's Lincoln Ave. location. It was a good choice.

Mondays is kids eat free there, and not only is the price right, it's fun food! They bring the crust, sauce and toppings of your choice to the table and the kids got to prep their own pizza to their exacting standards. I heard Bee softly mutter, "I did SUCH a good job!" as she took her first bite.

CJ was equally pleased with his product.

OTHER STUFF: I'm too tired to tell you about the four books we read today and the two DVDs the kids watched tonight (one science, the other geography).

Oh, and then there was a BrainPop lesson about ecosystems this morning, complete with post video test and other related activities.