Tanaka Farms Field Trip

Today we headed to Tanaka Farms in Irvine for our very first Homeschool Field Trip

It was so much fun!!

The kids had a blast and the experience created lots of questions that lead to some great discussions about farm animals, how vegetables grow and how a farm works.

Here are some great pictures we took while there!!

Right after checking in...before the heat got to us!!

Yep, those are real farm tractors and some gorgeous plants they had along the edges of the farm....Freddie about died when he saw these tractors!

Ah the inevitable petting zoo....

Karyl had no fear....she grabbed some food and walked right up to the animals and fed and touched them.

Freddie took a little more convincing....he finally touched this one goat on the top of the head - I barely got this picture it was so quick!

Even though he wasn't super thrilled about the animals, he still was in a good enough mood to smile for me!

After washing their hands we stopped for a quick picture before heading back to the wagon for our ride around the farm. Freddie kept saying how much he loved the petting zoo, that's why he's all smiles here...even though he didn't want to touch the animals!!

This was the wagon ride....Freddie was SO excited watching the tractor pull the two wagons, he could barely contain himself.

Waiting for our wagon to take off...a quick attempt at taking a picture ourselves...not too bad, right??

The good old corn maze...the kids loved it, but it was getting hot and it was a little larger than they planned....

But they made it to the middle and were so excited when they did...luckily this was a short maze so I could follow them from a distance and see them.

See, just the right height for kids....Kayrl loves to tell everyone that she made it to the flag with the smiley face in the middle!

Then we got to pick vegetables...these were the radishes.  Karyl even let Freddie pick one of each vegetable (she was allowed 4 of each veggie).

Look, it's a radish!!!

And then some carrots...

Even Freddie picked a carrot and then put it in the bag with the rest of our pickings!

They had so much fun and loved getting into the plants and seeing what came up when they pulled the leaves.

Does this need a caption??

Karyl also got to pick a pumpkin, but it had to be small enough that she could carry it out of the patch - no rolling allowed.  She walked that pumpkin patch for at least 10 minutes looking for what she thought was the perfect pumpkin!!

Tah-dah!! It was about 8 pounds, and she didn't carry it very far.  Right after I took this picture she asked me to carry it.

We were lucky to get this picture...the kids were hot and sweaty and REALLY thirsty by this point and about 10 seconds later Freddie completely broke down and screamed for water and to go back home.  I had no idea how large the farm was, or how long we'd be there....next time we will bring water bottles!!

Our freshly picked veggies from the farm...now what to do with them!?!?

Overall, we had a great time and despite the heat and whining, the kids say that had a really fun time and would love to do it again!! SUCCESS!!

Oh, and for those thinking our group looks a little small...Grandma and Grandpa were nice enough to watch Nicole for us while we went so I could focus on the two older kids and really enjoy spending time with them!! I loved being able to give them my undivided attention for those few hours, and I think they appreciated it too!!