A Trip to Grant's Farm

This morning Bill woke up wanting to do something today.  After much deliberation, we decided Grant's Farm would be the best option.  The location is close, in case I went into labor, and Nolan hadn't been yet.  I don't remember going as a kid, but I do remember seeing pictures with the clydesdales.  It was settled, Grant's Farm it was.  We loaded up into the car and headed out.  I overheard a section on the radio about road delays, but I didn't catch which road it was.......

We soon found out.  As soon as we hit 255, we were backed up in slow moving traffic for about 30 minutes.  So much for being close by in case I went into labor.  Bill was discussing emergency delivery in the car and I told him to stop because it wasn't going to happen!!  Nolan was able to catch a quick cat nap with the traffic delay though.  When we pulled up to Grant's Farm he was still sleeping, so we carefully loaded him into the stroller and then arrived at Grant's Station to jump on the tram.

Nolan slept through most of the tram ride, which was kind of nice because Bill didn't have to wrestle him.  I was able to listen to the tour guide and hear some interesting information about Grant's Farm too.  For instance,

The gate along the outside of the farm is constructed of sawed off rifle barrels to honor those who fought in the Civil War.  I can't remember the exact number of barrels, but I thought the guide said somewhere close to 2,500 and the fence stretches a 1/4 of a mile.

This male's antlers weigh around 35 pounds.  I can feel his pain because I've gained about that much with this pregnancy, but I couldn't imagine carrying it all on my head!!

An albino male deer.  During the mating season, the albino deer are kept from the brown deer to prevent cross-breeding.

 Deer from China.  Their antlers are ground up and used by the Chinese to treat burns.

 Texas Longhorns

Here is the point where Nolan woke up on the tram ride.  This Longhorn was awfully close.  As soon as Nolan's eyes focused he said, "OH WHAT'S THAT?!?!" as the Longhorn continued to come closer and closer to the tram.  We arrived at our destination and jumped off the tram.  First thing we did was EAT!!

The traffic delay made us hungry, so we made our way to the hospitality area and ate lunch.  Nolan was starving, he ate a whole peanut butter and jelly sandwich and chips!  Bill had been craving a braut, so he ate at the braut house.  We finished our lunches and decided to walk back through the farm backwards.  First stop....the camels and llamas.  Nolan really liked the camels!  He could of cared less to look at the llamas.

 Nolan was hesitant to feed the camel at first.  He kept laughing as the camel moved it's lips around.

Bill was much more fun with the camels.  He was making the camel open it's mouth and then tossed in the food.  Nolan got a kick out of it!!  Nolan even tossed some food into a camel's mouth!

 Nice toss Bub!

Nolan had some food left over and kept trying to put it back into the machine.

Nolan really liked walking around on his own like a big boy.  He did get into some mischief picking flowers.  He would find random nut shells on the ground too and kept trying to feed them to various animals.

 Whoops.....how did that come off?

Right next to the parrots was the carousel.  Nolan loves carousels, so Bill took him for a ride on it.  I love how serious Nolan becomes as soon as it starts up.

 Petting the horse's mane

After the carousel ride, the only thing left to do at the farm was to bottle feed the goats.  Nolan has helped Papa T bottle feed the baby calves before, so he wasn't scared at all.  Until they decided to mass swarm him  and jump on him.  I felt so sorry for Bill because he was trying to keep Nolan safe, man handle the goats, and still feed them at the same time.  Nolan kept saying, "Drink Drink" to the goats.  While I was taking pictures, a goat started to eat Nolan's stroller and a guy had to yell at the goat.  It all ended well though.

 Talented Dada....

We headed back to the tram pick-up and decided to walk through some stables real quick.  Nolan kept trying to open all of the stable doors and let the horses out.  He was literally turning red in the face trying to pull those bars open.

Of course,  I made Bill stop at the gift shop on the way out.  I found the perfect shirt for Nolan it said, "I survived the goat feedings." haha I couldn't stop laughing.  Bill thought we should buy a toy for Nolan since he would outgrow the shirt soon enough.  I gave in and we bought Nolan a huge stuffed snake, which he thinks is pretty cool.

Bill and I did not realize the clydesdales were kept in separate stables until we were exiting the park in the car and saw the signs.  Bill said we will have to make another trip back to see the clydesdales.  Fine by me.  I had a lot of fun today, as I am sure did Nolan and Bill.  Now it's time to relax and hopefully welcome Baby P soon.