Farm Days

One of the benefits of living here in Columbus is that we are about 5 minutes away from COSI--the Columbus Science Museum that was rated #1 in the country by Parents magazine. It's an amazing place and I'm sure we'll be visiting many times this year. But this past week they had "COSI's Farm Days" where they bring in all kinds of tractors, combines, balers, etc and help kids experience life as a farmer.

I was so excited to take the kids and surprise them----I absolutely love surprises (big and small) and couldn't wait to surprise the kids. I didn't tell them anything about it until that morning and all I said was that I had a 'surprise' for them. On the way there, Wyatt was talking to my mom on the phone and said, "Nani, we're going to a surprise but I can't tell you where it is because it's a surprise".

Of course as we pulled up to COSI and entered, the kids didn't really understand what the surprise was. So we headed up the elevator to get out to the Farm Days exhibit and as we got off the elevator, there was this little carpet with roads and fields on it and tractors sitting on it to play with (see pic below). Wyatt goes, "Mom, I love this surprise! Thank you!" I had the presence of mind to stop and allow the kids to play---after all, this was supposed to be fun for them, so if this was fun then that's what we were going to do.

But after a few minutes, I told the kids we should go outside to see an even bigger surprise and this was what we walked outside to see---you can only imagine hos big Wyatt's eyes got and how loud the gasp was!

Sadie was just as excited to get on and try everything out.

This was where Wyatt was comfortable starting out....

He quickly moved up to the bigger tractors. He loved this one because it was "just like Grandpa Sorensen's"

These combines were HUGE!!!!! You can barely see Wyatt down in the tire.
The kids also loved the fountains outside......especially since it was getting pretty warm.

Part of life as a farmer is milking a cow, and of course we had to try this......especially since we are from Wisconsin.

The highlight of the day may not have been the tractors and combines, however. On our way inside to eat lunch, I pushed the stroller onto the elevator and my keys, camera, cell phone, and water bottle all dropped out of the stroller. Of course everything was fine, except that the keys fell down the elevator shaft and we didn't hear them hit the bottom for a good couple of seconds. Wyatt immediately started crying--I think partly because of the reaction of everyone else in the elevator and partly because he thought we might not be able to get back home. So we found a maintenance guy to go get them and while he was retrieving our keys, the kids entertained themselves here.....I think I put over 50 pennies in this thing!

We did get the keys back and after lunch, headed back outside. Wyatt had no reservations at this point and even climbed up on the huge combine by himself.

It was funny how many comments Wyatt got about his Favre jersey. I hadn't really realized it, but he was wearing it just days after Favre had signed with the Jets. And Wyatt repeats everything we say, so when people would ask him if he liked Brett Favre, his answer would be "Yeah, did you know he plays for the Jets now? Isn't that sad?" And inevitably, people would crack up at this comment coming from a 3 year old. But his answer is still the same today---in addition to being able to recognize Michael Phelps and immediately say, "That's Michael Phelps, the best swimmer of all time". Be careful what you say around him, because it will be repeated!