Dana Rose Children's Farmstead

If we lived in the Kansas City area, I know we'd be at the Dana Rose Children's Farmstead all the time. The Farmstead is a 12-acre park that has almost 200 farm animals and birds of prey, vegetable and flower gardens, a one-room country schoolhouse, a dairy barn, an old-time fishing pond, horse drawn wagon rides, pony rides and more.

The kids immediately got excited when they were able to feed the goats. These goats were in pens which we could not go inside, but you were able to buy feed out of a dispenser and push your hands through the pen opening and watch the goats eat from your hands. I was a bit surprised at how reticent Alexa was to have the goats lick her hands. She was very reserved about it, but Jared jumped right into the experience.

A really funny aside: when we left the goats we walked past a pen of rabbits. And the rabbits were doing what rabbits do best....mating....for all to see. We were joking that when the big question comes up we'd just have to take the kids here to see the rabbits and we wouldn't have to say a word.

After that diversion, we headed towards a small wading pool, dipped our feet in for a while, and then the kids had fun going down slides and playing in the sandbox.

After the park, we went to an area that had little tractor bikes for the kids to ride.

I was so upset that my camera's battery died right after the above pictures were taken, especially since the last few activities were their favorite and I would have gotten great shots. Well, I'll just do my best to tell you about it.

They had a pen with little baby goats. For a dollar, you could buy a baby bottle to feed the goats. I was shocked when Alexa marched right in there, with all the goats jostling her around, especially since she had seemed so wary feeding the bigger goats earlier. The sweetest thing was when one goat seemed to be hogging most of the bottle and the other goats would press in for a drink, Alexa would do her best to pry the bottle from the one goat's mouth in order for all the baby goats to get their turn.

When Alexa and I were feeding the baby goats, Steve and Jared paid $3 for a bucket of worms and went fishing. They have a pond stocked with fish, and it is the best first fishing experience for little kids because within second of lowering your hook into the water, you get bites. Jared caught his first fish when I wasn't even there. I was really upset about this for a while. Steve's cousin got a picture of it, but still it's not the same thing as being there. Then I was determined to catch a fish, too. I sat there for a long while, nibble after nibble, getting nothing but an empty hook. Then, literally seconds before I was going to give up and go back, I caught a fish! At least we have some video footage of that.

Before we left the farmstead, the kids went on a pony ride. I was so impressed with both of them because we couldn't walk beside them. I had expected Alexa for sure to balk at the idea of riding alone, but she jumped on the pony without any hesitation. All in all, a great, great day.