This week has been busy busy busy for us (more on the big reason it was so busy later) and a crazy weekend wouldn't be complete without a visit to the farm. 

Ed's parents run a dairy farm outside of Peterborough and we visit often enough that Buzz is finally becoming familiar with the place. During this trip up he climbed towers of hay bales, showed no fear of cows, and went down a very tall slide, his courage was amazing. (In the picture Ed is attempting to get Buzz down from the bales, he got up with the help of a cousin).

 

I am pretty in love with some of the cows, they can be surprisingly lovely animals if you take the time to scratch behind their ears, this time I fell head over heals for a little jersey cow in the stall at the end of the row. She was smaller then the holstein cows and her face was incredibly sweet. While she was milked I pet her ears and she seemed to like that, sadly she is on loan and so we may never hang out again, but it was nice while it lasted. 

If you live in the city then take a weekend to get out to the country, while not everyone has a farm in the family, most people can take their family to the farm. If you're not sure where to look for a farm near you, start asking around especially at farmer's markets, someone there is bound to have a farm that you can visit. If you are in the Toronto area check out Brook's Farms, you can pick berries, feed some chickens, take a ride on a zipline, and play with all the toys on their giant lawn, they're located outside Newmarket. 

What I Love Wednesday : The Zoo

Living in Toronto has some great benefits, and for us one of the biggest is the ability to go to the zoo often. We have memberships at the zoo and we try to go at least once a month, the best time to go is definitely in the spring or fall when the place is practically deserted. Once the cooler weather hits the school groups go into hiding and the wide open spaces that are left are a wonderful retreat from the busy city.

Since we go to the zoo often we are able to take our time viewing our favourite animals, riding the zoomobile, and playing at the splash pad. We never feel the need to rush around the zoo and see everything which is quite the luxury at a zoo this large.

The zoo often has events going on at the zoo and we take part whenever possible. We've participated in raising money for the polar bears, and Buzz has even trick or treated at Halloween, we can't wait to take in more events this year.

This week we've been to the zoo twice and we experience what is by far my most favourite zoo moment, Buzz finally came nose to nose with one of the polar bears. We always see the polar bears when we go to the zoo but we hadn't had a good underwater viewing experience until Monday. It seems that the conditions were perfect, the water was clear and two of the bears were rough housing near the glass. At one point one of the bears swung his head down under the water and looked at Buzz. Buzz was thrilled and so was I!

The idea that for less than $200 a year we can go to the zoo as much as we like is wonderful, if we go only once a month the cost per trip breaks down to about $16. I think its great value, and its always a magical and educational trip for all of us. For as long as we live near the zoo we will most definitely have memberships.