Wheeler Farm at the end of a busy week

Wheeler Farm used to be one of my more frequent activities for the kids.  It's close to our house, free, educational, outside, active, and fun.  But it hit me that I haven't brought the kids since last fall.  So we went today after Spencer's program.  Let me back up...

The kids have been in swimming lessons last week and this week.  They've gone to Crestwood Pool M-Th for 1/2 hour sessions both weeks.  I really like swimming lessons here.  They make it so much fun for the kids--playing games like tag, red light green light, alligator alligator, fish in a basket, ring around the rosies, etc.  Spencer's doing better--he'll even put his face in the water if he has goggles.  He'll stick his whole head in to reach down or while he's walking (he thinks he's swimming cuz he's moving his arms with his head in the water).  But he has to keep his feet on the ground.  He freaks out when the teachers try to get him to float on his back, stomach, or even the "jellyfish float".  He finally tried to "rocket" by pushing himself off the wall with his hands forward and his face in.  But only with the teacher's help and still being very nervous.  And he wouldn't jump off the wall or even do the sitting dive off the wall.  And he really was nervous when the teacher would take them to the deep end.  It took a couple days before he would at least be in the water, holding on to the wall for dear life.  Tessa on the other hand had no problem diving down to fetch things, swim around on the teacher's arms, stick her head in, and even went off the diving board on her last day.  She got nervous half way across the diving board so a teacher came behind her to lower her down to the teacher waiting in the water.  And a funny sidenote was that Spencer's teacher was named Spencer and Tessa Rose's teacher was named Tessa Rose. 

 


In addition to swimming lessons Spencer started StarTalk Camp this week.  We decided to enroll him in a Chinese dual immersion program for elementary school.  Even though he won't start 1st grade officially for a couple of weeks, his class came in M-Th this week to begin learning.  The class was split in half and half the class went in the morning and Spencer's half went in the afternoon each day for 3 hours.  I really had no idea what to expect and neither Spencer nor I have ever stepped foot in the school he'll be attending.  We also have never met the teachers or any kids in his class.  Both Spencer and I were quite nervous the first day.  After that only I've been nervous.  Each day the teacher and her assistant only speak in Mandarin to the children.  They have watched a few movies in Mandarin--The 3 Little Pigs, one about counting, one about a family, and one about an elephant whose head grew really big.  Spencer's favorite part has been recess (no big surprise).  He can count to 10 in Mandarin, and say mom, dad, drink, hello, and thank you.  So far he's been enjoying it and making some new friends.  This morning they had a program to show the parents what they've been doing.  Spencer's class sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, and another song.  After I told Spencer I didn't know he knew those songs.  He said he didn't. 

In addition to swimming lessons and StarTalk Camp this week we went to Family Skate Night at the Lone Peak Skate park on Monday night, went to both Draper and Whitmore libraries, a couple playgrounds, watched Tangled in Willowcreek Park one night (Brodie and Clara stayed at home this night and I just took Spencer and Tessa), and went to a neighbor's wedding reception downtown.  That brings us to this morning after Spencer's program when we went to Wheeler Farm.

When I pulled into Wheeler Farm the first thing the kids and I noticed was the new playground.  The kids were sooooo excited and ran immediately over.  They played here for a good half an hour.  It was a fun playground.  I like that the center has a roof over it to provide shade from exposure to the sun and to avoid the super hot equipment that my kids refuse to play on at other playgrounds.  The kids loved all the different ways to climb up it--stairs, a ladder, a rock, logs, and stumps.  They also had fun finding the hidden little animals--a mouse, squirrel, and raccoon.  One slide was a tunnel slide so it was only hot at the bottom.  The other slide was away from the morning sun so it was nice and cool.  Spencer loved the tunnel slide while Tessa and Clara played a lot on the shaded slide.  They had a lot of fun.

 

After the playground we went to see the animals.  First we saw the sheep, then the horses, rabbits, goats (including 2 cute little baby goats), baby turkeys, pheasants, big turkeys, chickens & roosters, cows, and finally the geese and ducks.  Most of the animals were laying around.  In fact Tessa was most excited to see the pigs and they were all hiding in their little houses so we didn't get to see any.  Spencer and Clara really wanted to pet the animals, but only the goats were close enough to the fence to pet.  And I forgot to bring bread for the ducks, not that they were lacking in bread being thrown to them, but my kids didn't get to throw any.  They also played on one of the tractors.  

Tessa complained a little about having to walk so much (I'm sympathetic for her as she has such little legs, but I wasn't going to carry her so she had to tough it out) and about me taking too many pictures.  After a nice little walk we came back to the playground where I sat with Clara in the shade while the kids went back to play.  When Tessa started whining about everything I decided it was time to go.  Spencer was upset about having to go.  So I told them for the rest of the day if anyone whined even one word they would go in time out.  It's been 2 hours of whine-free in the house so far!

After a couple warm hours at the farm we came home and had lunch before I put Clara down for a nap and got on the computer.  As soon as I finish here I'm off to start cleaning the very neglected house.  I'll have the kids join in as soon as Clara is awake as I'm sure that will end the whine-free party and I'll stick to my word of time-outs which will result in crying and waking up the baby if she's asleep.  So for now I'm letting the kids watch Free Willy in the messy play room and play with their toys.