Dairy Farm

The week that school started, two of my teacher friends and I took our kids to Ropp Dairy Farm in Normal. Our friend Katie teaches first and they bring their school kids here for part of their field trip. It's a small family owned/operated dairy. We had a great time... the kids got to pet some baby calves, try to milk a mama cow, bottle feed calves, see how cheese is made, sample some cheese, and take a hay-rack ride. It was a very HOT day, but we had fun. We of course had to purchase some cheese curds to bring home for daddy to try (Sadie was excited to tell him!) After our Dairy adventure, we headed over to Miller Park/Spray Park. We ate our picnic lunch and then put the kids into swimsuits and set them loose--they had a great time. We were all pretty much exhausted by noon!
Jodi, Sadie, & Emma--petting the calf. When the girls first walked into the pen, Sadie looked at me and said "Mom, where are those pink things that you get the milk out of?"

Kinnick and Eddie (the two littlest boys) were the only ones brave enough to try milking--although they didn't really get the concept, they just did what the girl told them to do!

All the kids liked doing the bottle feeding. Our calves name was Emma--so they thought that was pretty cool.

Sadie & Kinnick on the hay rack--Kinnick's first experience...

Sadie at the spray park--the kids weren't really in picture mode at this point!