Puddle Ducks Herb Farm

Our MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group has been really awesome this summer with weekly play dates at different parks around the Tri-Cities. Every once in a while, though, our play date takes place at a unique spot so I was really excited to see what Puddle Ducks Herb Farm had to offer. From a quick view at their website I knew we'd be touring some flowers, trees, and a few animals but I was pleasantly surprised at how the tour was completely geared towards the three-year-olds that were with us.

Abby being a goof while we waited for the tour to start.

Our first stop was at an old log which our tour guide (or as she liked to be called, Mrs. Duck) turned over to show all the worms, bugs, spiders, etc that lived underneath. I thought Abby was just adorable when she kept calling out "teacher, teacher I see a worm over there! I see two worms!" Hopefully it was endearing to others because she did this over and over. :-)

Petting a worm

Pointing out the other two worms when asked if she saw any more.

Then we moved on to a tree where Mrs. Duck tried to show bugs living underneath the tree's skin but every time she peeled a piece off there were no bugs to be found. Since it was almost a 100* I figured they were hiding deep in the shade to cool off.

Petting the tree skin to see how silky smooth it felt.

Next we moved on to view the beehive. Abby was super interested so she followed Mrs. Duck right up to the front of the pond where she was told she'd best be able to see the bees. I stayed back and asked another Mom if it was silly that I wanted to stay far, far away from the bees. After we laughed a bit Jessica took two steps to the and then realized we were actually standing RIGHT NEXT TO THE BEE HIVE! Eek!! I think we both double-timed it to get to the pond with the kids. :-)

The bee hive. We were standing right next to the porch's post while joking about being far, far away from them.

The pond safety zone for bee watching! Also a great spot to pet a water snail.

After recovering from our bee adventure we went on some fruit picking fun. Abby got to pick a crab apple, nectarine, cherry, and raspberries.

Picking raspberries. After trying one she decided they weren't her favorite (not a new discovery) and then gave her extras to her friends on the tour who were enjoying them. I was really proud of how easily she shared instead of just dropping the berries on the ground.

Finally, we ended our visit with some animal petting. Abby got to touch the feet of a goose (which I did not get a picture of because the goose was NOT happy about being held and kept trying to reach his head around Mrs. Duck's arm for a bite. I put my camera away to be on "quickly yanking Abby away from the goose" duty. But she did get to pet a duck (and see the hole through its nose - something I didn't know about) as well as a few chickens. The chickens weren't as exciting since she gets to pet Grandma Carstens' chickens whenever we are in Portland visiting, but they were still neat to touch.

Petting a duck.

Petting one of the chickens.

I was really pleased with how well the tour went and would definitely recommend visiting them if you live in the Tri-Cities area. I also loved watching Abby through the tour. She was super polite in saying "Excuse me, teacher" whenever she wanted to say something to Mrs. Duck. She was barely two steps behind Mrs. Duck as they traveled around the farm eagerly heading towards the next 'thing' they'd be seeing. Tried to answer Mrs. Duck's questions even if she didn't know the answer. And just generally had an excited "I want to learn" attitude throughout the tour. I really like this aspect of her personality and hope it stays with her as she grows up!

Abby Singing "Let it Go"

A quick view of how the Frozen phenomenon has affected our house...in a good way!

A Most Fabulous Eye Appointment

Abby had a most fabulous eye appointment. When I told her that she had a doctor's appointment she started to get a little worried about getting a shot, but after multiple assurances that it was a shot-free kind of appointment she was much happier. She even got in the habit of telling me that she was going to see the eye doctor so he could make sure her eyes were growing big. :-)

When we got to the doctor's office I'll admit that I figured this appointment would go similar to the rest where she'd behave pretty darn well, but would definitely hit the end of her patience about halfway through the actual appointment. I was pleasantly surprised that this eye appointment went a little differently. As soon as she saw the first machine (the one where you look through the viewer to see a picture of a house and focus on it) she was hooked on all the cool machines! She was so sweet sitting there so patiently and trying to follow the doctor's directions. And with her sitting so patiently the doctor kept doing more and more tests. He mentioned more than once that he'd do "just one more test" because she was sitting so nicely and seemed so interested in all his gadgets. I was just tickled pink at 1) how well she was behaving, 2) how well she was doing with all the weird gadgetry, and 3) how interested in the process she seemed. I love watching her learn and this was a fabulous learning opportunity for her. 

In the end the diagnosis was as expected. Her vision is right where it should be for her age but, due to the natural shape of her eye, we should keep an eye out for near-sighted issues starting roughly around her 5th or 6th birthday. As both Nate and I were near-sighted (until LASIK!) this is not surprising news. Another great doctor's visit in the books for a year. 

The machine where you look at the house. She did a great job keeping very still and accurately describing the colors of the house.

As soon as we walked into the room she was very interested in this machine and what it did.

With such interest the doctor decided to see if she would sit still enough for him to view her eyes with the light. 

There were a few grumpy faces made as the light bothered her eyes, but she sat for the entire exam and even let the doctor hold her eyelids up and down to fully see her eyeball.

Here she's grabbing the wings of the butterfly for a depth perception test.

Shining some other type of light in her eyes. At this point I think the doctor was just seeing how many different tests he could do before she signaled that she was done.

Since it was 7-11 and therefore free slurpee day I figured I'd reward her for her fantastic behavior with a slurpee. However, the first 7-11 was out of slurpees and the second 7-11 had a line out the front door and around the side.  At that point I decided I was tired of driving for a free slurpee and decided I was happy to pay for a treat. :-) So a Strawberry Shortcake apple juice and some Sweethearts were the reward for such fantastic behavior.

Great job, Abby! I hope your next appointment goes just as great!