Our Girl's Day

Nature Girl is accustomed to having the attention of her mother and father to herself. Last week we had two extra kids for the week so she was in need of a special day by the end of the week. Friday she and I headed out for a girls day. We packed a picnic lunch and went to her favorite petting farm & ice cream stand. We've been visiting this farm every summer since she was a year old and she has become attached to several animals at the farm. Her favorite is Sunny the horse. Quickly followed by a pair of peacocks named Prince & Poppy.

Here's Prince in all his glory. Isn't he beautiful! Nature Girl was thrilled to be able to purchase one of his feathers for 50 cents. She also picked one out as a birthday gift for her grandmother. Every year Prince and Poppy have little peacock babies that we watch grow through the summer and fall. Nature girl loves them, although she does wonder why Prince calls so loudly.

Nature Girl took this photo of the two piglets. Aren't they sweet! We both agree that the black & white is the cutest. Usually the farm hangs signs with all of the animal's names. The signs weren't up on Friday so I don't think these little piggies have their names yet.

This is Nature Girl sitting on the fence rail with Sunny in the background. Sunny is a 41 year old pony that Nature Girl has adopted as her special friend. He has been a favorite of hers since she met him three years ago. We have the cutest photo of one of those first meetings. Sunny is sticking his head out of the barn window and a little Nature Girl right up close to his face talking to him. I'll have to find it again because it's so sweet.

The farm also has a huge sand pile with toys & shovels for the kids. The two big wood chairs for the grownups are very inviting. I relaxed while she played in the sand. Nature Girl had the farm and the sand pile to herself for most of our visit. She was very happy!
After visiting all of the animals and playing in the sand pile we were off to the hand washing station so we could get cleaned up and get our ice cream. Nature Girl enjoyed a chocolate ice cream cone while I savored a dish of pineapple orange ice cream. Yummy!
We packed up and headed off to our favorite thrift store to end our girl's day. Nature Girl loves thrifting but she has a lot of toys already so we're instituting a new rule for thrifting. One in and two out. I had Nature Girl choose two toys she no longer plays with and we donated them to the thrift store. In return she got to choose one toy to bring home. If we can keep this up we might clean out the extra toys in the playroom over time. Of course I felt a bit of guilt instituting this rule for her when I haven't followed it myself. I guess I should work on following this new rule too. Instead I purchased more fabric that I hope to turn into an apron. I'm thinking I'd like to try making the Gathering Apron from the Sew Mama Sew tutorial contest. Of course I think I'll finish my aprons for the apron swaps first, then I can try the gathering apron for Nature Girl.