"Baaa"ck At the Ranch...

...or farm, as it were.

After a particularly stressful week, I was thrilled to have chaperoned a field trip today! Despite the fact that the constant rainfall in the north east means we'll be rowing to work soon instead of driving and the kids being keyed up (the last day of school is Monday) - today was a BLAST!!

This was my mom's last field trip as a first grade teacher; I'm honored to have been there. (For all you moms out there - NO parents were allowed. I went in the place of one of the school Aides/Paraprofessionals.) The last field trip I chaperoned was during the school system's trend of discovering the tidal pools at the beach. Quite fun... but as the trip nurse - I came home with one child with a broken arm and two others that needed stitches. I can HAPPILY report that no one got injured with anything more serious than a muddy knee on this trip!

The kids were very well behaved, the farm guides were amazing and it was great seeing some endangered/rare animals so close up & get to see the children's reactions too. Their perspective on things is a joy to behold. :-)

Sorry I didn't get to take pictures. Between the torrential rain, keeping the kids moving/paying attention/fingers out of animal pens, and trying to discretely deal with work emergencies - I didn't have a free hand to take pictures. Here are a few from the farm's website.

Pepper the Nigerian Dwarf Goat was the biggest hit with the kids. She was very gentle and the kids got to feed her. :-)

Gypsy hid from us...but there were Peacock feathers to be found around the farm!

I don't remember what breed of goose the white one here is, but apparently, she lays GREEN eggs!