Liam's Birthday Weekend Celebrations Commence

The birthday weekend celebrations have begun for Liam. Although this morning didn't start out as celebratory. Because our health insurance expires tomorrow (and the new one doesn't start until Sept. 1) we had to get all physical exams and immunizations done before then. We didn't intend for it to happen today but because Liam had a fever earlier this week, they postponed it until he was better but within the deadline. Liam was very brave and calmed himself through the anxiety from the anticipation of the shots. He's definitely growing "on the inside" as we tell him. I made ice packs for him to use before the shots and that seemed to help ease him. It's like he needed something to feel like he had some control over the situation and the ice packs did just that.  On the bright side, he is a healthy boy who is in the 95th percentile for height (only 43rd percentile for weight) and we love how our new pediatrician is actively working on figuring him out. We REALLY love the new pediatrician [night and day from our GA one, night and day]. So, once we got that out of the way, the celebrations began.

Today we visited Blackberry Farm. This place is very close to our house and it has so much for the kids to enjoy. They loved it so much we spent the ENTIRE day (well, until they closed at 5pm) there. That's never happened outside of Disney so that should tell you how much they enjoyed it.

 I took lots of pictures to document this day because Liam said he needed pictures so he could always remember his "last day as a 4 year old." :)

 Pony Rides. The kids were really looking forward to the pony rides. Personally, I am not a fan of these types of attractions (for animal welfare reasons) but I bit my tongue and let them do it. They enjoyed it.

 

Carousel. Despite Ellie talking about wanting to ride the carousel over and over, as soon as it was her turn she backed out. She watched her brothers go on the carousel and she told the carousel operator all about how she rode the carousel at Disney because "its' not fast." Once she saw that this carousel wasn't "fast" then she wanted to do it.

Happy Ellie face

 Train Rides. There's a great little train that goes all around the farm. The train has its own original mid 1800's train depot. We walked through it before the ride and the kids saw how tickets were stamped back then. Nick and I noticed that the train depot was from the same era as the house that we live in, and it was evident by the cabinetry. The train station had the same wooden cabinets and cabinet closures that we have in our butler's pantry at the house.

Enjoying a Panera bagel of their choice (all Cinnamon Crunch) before the train ride

 Paddle Boats. This was a big surprise for us. We didn't realize that there were paddleboats at this farm and that there would be some big enough for all of GP5 to go on. We had the "family steamboat" paddleboat named "African Queen" and it was awesome.

 I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the boat or of us in the boat b/c I didn't want to risk taking my camera on the boat. I admit, I was a bit nervous about all of us being in one paddleboat but the ride was smooth and there were no meltdowns in the middle of the lake.

Capturing the fact that Ellie has had braids ALL day without touching them. Though on the way home, she did take the hair tie out of them. 

 Hay Ride....without hay. We rode the "hay ride" truck around the farm and stopped by Pioneer Cabin where we met a fellow who taught us all about how a family in the 1800's used to live. I loved the little 400 sq. ft cabin. It was proof that we could all be minimalists if we wanted to. They had everything they needed in that space and it was not cluttered at all.

 The best part was the PLAYGROUND. It was themed to fit the rest of the property but with a bit of whimsy. There were bouncy bridges, ropes courses, slides, specialty rooms and the kids' favorite: a zip line,

 It wouldn't be a farm trip without farm animals. We visited the hen houses, turkeys, pot belly pig, ducks, and donkey.

This was as perfect of a family day as we could have. It was just fantastic overall. The kids were entertained the whole day, beautiful weather, and no (major) meltdowns.