A Special Treat

On Thursday Natalie had her first field trip. She was SO SO SO excited to go to the petting zoo with her kindergarten class. One thing she was the MOST excited about was riding the bus. That has been her dream all year and isn't an option at her school for her. The day was especially fun for Natalie because David was able to come as a volunteer and spend the day with her. It was a very special treat for both of them.







The day before her field trip we were talking at the table and Natalie told me her teacher was talking about the field trip and told the class that when she was a girl she got to feed a cow on a similiar field trip. Her teacher didn't know if that would be in store for them, but Natalie was SO excited at the thought of it. Then she told me that she remembered once when she was with her cousins and she got to feed a baby cow.



I was surprised Natalie remembered this, she was so little. But this is one of my favorite photos of her.

When I was a little young we lived on a farm for several years. I think my parents moved there mostly because of my love of animals. My sister and I would bottle feed our two cows Chucky and Syd every morning. We got them when they were only one day old and even though it wasn't always the easiest job (picture 2-3 feet snow drifts in the cold winter) and baby cows that would sometimes get so excited that they would pull the nipple off the bottle and we would have to start all over again--it was such a rewarding experience. I can't tell you how much I loved those two cows. I can still remember the day we got a lot of apricots from my grandma and some of them were overly ripe. I fed them to Chucky and I can almost still feel his sandpaper tounge as he would put my whole hand in his mouth to suck the apricot of it. It was one of those experiences that you never forget.

So, when Natalie got the chance to feed this baby cow, it was really special to me. No one else got to feed it, maybe it was because she was a cute little baldy that she got the chance that day.

Well, Natalie didn't get the chance to feed any baby cows on her fieldtrip, but she did something just as cool--she got to MILK A COW!! I have never done that and always wanted to try. She said it was easy. You just point it into the bucket and squeeze.