Farmpark

I never heard of a "farmpark" before (in Idaho where I grew up, we just have something called a "farm" instead). But out here, there is this cutest functional farm, which has been formatted to encourage learning. We came on their horse theme day, so Little Tam got to pet lots of horsies, ride in a pony-drawn cart, and got a few freebies like a horshoe with his name on it, and a little soft toy horse. Lo kept grabbing the reins of this pony. He is ready to be a rider! Maybe in another year or so we'll try letting him steer the horse himself. =) Grandpa Dean, get those horses gentled real good for us, k? These lambs in the photo below looked like cats to me, the way they were lounging with legs half on/half off the ledge:

This baby foal was just 30 days old, and they had a contest in which attendees could name the horse. We submitted a name (the name is Lo's real name; we'll see if it gets picked).

These horses pulled people around all day on a wagon, which was another freebie included in the price of admission; I love places where all the fun stuff is included in one package.

Except food was extra. I almost bought a funnel cake, but then just ended up eating the granola bar I'd smuggled in. Check out the greenery in the background. Nope, not in Idaho anymore! It's a jungle out here.

We didn't get photos of a few of my favorite parts, including the part where police horses were being trained. These horses were really in the beginning stages of their training, so we got to see them progress in just the few minutes of watching them. One horse had never seen bubbles before, so one handler blew bubbles at the horse from a soapy bubble machine, and then the rider gradually coaxed the horse to chase the bubbles. Another horse got practice trotting over some garbage can lids, which popped and bounced under his feet. Having ridden horses before, I was impressed by how brave these police mounts could be--normally horses can be pretty skittish over unfamiliar objects.

The horse in this video was beautiful. It could do both reining and dressage (horse ballet), and put on quite the show for us. We had front row seats. When we got home, I read Lo a story about farm animals, and he seemed to really notice and try to grab at the photo of the horse in his book. I think he remembers the horses he saw there at the park.

Oh! And hope ya'll noticed Lo's darling Carhart overalls. A few people at the farmpark commented, "he is dressed perfect for hanging out with horses!" Thanks Uncle Matthew for giving such a great outfit to our Lo.