free field trip: centennial farm.

today i took alice to centennial farm for the first time. if youve never heard of it, its basically a miniature farm thats connected to the orange county fairgrounds, that has all kinds of animals and crops and things for kids to learn about farming and agriculture. its awesome. also, its free. with free parking (unless theres something special going on at the fairgrounds).

 its all the way out in costa mesa (about 45 minutes from us), so its not something we can just go do all the time, but today we got to go with a bunch of families from church, including my mom and sisters. this was especially nice since alice had a really rough morning (including a twenty minute tantrum because i wouldnt let her change her own diaper), and i really needed the help. 

alice LOVES animals, so she was really excited to get to hug an ox:

a couple times a day they have a cow milking demonstration but alice didnt really care so she talked to a llama:

and looked at some cows and pigs and goats and chickens and all kinds of farm animals. 

 this weekend was also the youth expo, so there were lots of other free things to do, like crafts:

(this was actually the first of several crafts she did today, apparently alice REALLY likes crafts)

alices very favorite part though was this small petting zoo at the youth expo where she got to feed some of the nicest, friendliest sheep and goats ive ever seen

and the worlds cutest tiniest cow! seriously, that cow is roughly the size of a large dog. this was actually the only part of the day that wasnt free, but it was only a dollar, and it was the only part of the day we payed for (we brought a picnic lunch), so i couldnt resist indulging her. 

i dont know if they were part of the farm or the youth expo, but there was a big exhibition of different chickens and rabbits, where we got to hold the cutest, softest, nicest rabbit ive ever met (and this is saying something because i kind of hate rabbits).

and the very best part of the day? alice had SO much fun, she slept the whole way home! probably the longest nap shes taken all week.