The open house turned out to be even more entertaining than I could have imagined! I figured it was just a guided walking tour of cattle barns and getting to watch the cows be milked. Instead, we rode on a wagon through the barns as we learned a lot about the cattle and that particular operation. Rylee and Wyatt both loved being so close to the cows!! We also got to watch the actual milking process through a large window (I think anyone can go and watch this, as it is in the visitor building). By the way, the milk from this operation is sold to Swiss Valley, if you were curious as I was.
Now, I loved the wagon tour and learning about the operation....I wondered for a brief moment why I didn't choose animal science as my college major (and to be honest, I just learned about that major on the tour today .. I also learned that 50% of the Ag students at ISU are "city" kids).....but Rylee's favorite part was what came after the wagon ride -- Food and Fun!!
The wagon dropped us off at a barn (picture the hoop barn with fabric roof -- which I learned they use because they are less expensive than a structure with metal roof). Inside this barn were baby calves to pet, "cow mix" to make (like trail mix, but mimics a cow's diet...think Candy Corn instead of real corn feed), a real cow stomach to look at (man, they're huge!! No wonder they can eat grass all day!), coloring pages and crayons, and best of all...DAIRY FOODS!! Yogurt (I found a new fav...Land O Lakes..yum!), milk....and of course.....ice cream!!! And let's not forget they also had bananas...and let's really not forget that they also had.....doughnuts!!! I wouldn't have had a doughnut, except that it is National Doughnut Day and would have been very un-human of me to not eat one.
I really learned a lot today and felt very in-tune with agriculture. I feel so fortunate to live near an amazing "Ag college", and particularly one that provides awesome learning experiences like this one....and for free! We will definitely be going back again next year!
To continue our "Ag day", we went to James' work to have lunch with him. As usual, we got to climb in the tractors and ride the little pedal tractors. Rylee thinks Daddy just plays with farm equipment all day :) And Wyatt wishes he could play with them all day!! He is going to be a "large machinery" fan, I can already tell!
Rylee has been to Daddy's work many times, but a couple of weeks ago she asked me, "What do people do at work?" She always hears me say "he's at work", or "Grandma's at work today.", etc. So later that same week Rylee had a chance to go to work with Grandma for a couple of hours. It was a slow day in the office and the bosses were gone, so Grandma's co-workers didn't mind having a little helper. I thought it would be great for Rylee to see what other types of "work" people do besides "play with tractors". Well, turns out Rylee and Grandma just watched Frozed on the computer while at work, so this was a skewed example!
Today, after lunch with Daddy, we went to visit Grandpa at work (where I knew there would be "real" work going on). Rylee was so excited to see Grandpa's work!! She went running up to Grandpa and held his hand as they walked around the warehouse and saw people running fork lifts, carrying boxes, etc. I feel better now that she has seen people working hard and not "playing with tractors" and watching movies :) I will make an effort to point out people working when we go places too....which will aid in our discussion of "where money comes from" as well.
I am so enjoying watching Rylee learn about life and welcome all of the questions she asks. Learning is never ending and something that takes place a lot in our house. James and I both love to learn new things and are always doing "research". I hope that my kids will always be curious and eager to learn. It's days like today that I am so thankful to be part of their lives 24/7 and provide these fun learning opportunities...and learn right along with them.
Speaking of learning...anyone wonder why it's sometimes spelled D-o-u-g-h-n-u-t and other times it's d-o-n-u-t?? I first used the latter, but then decided to look it up as I wasn't sure I used the right spelling.....turns out it is better to use the longer word, as that was the original way to spell it......
No comments:
Post a Comment