As usual, I am way behind in my blogging, so I am going to backdate this a little.
On our drive from my parents house in MO to the Chicago area, we decided to spend the night near St. Louis so we could take the kids to Grant’s Farm for a few hours before we drove the rest of the way. I knew we didn’t have much time, only about 3 hours, but I figured it would be good to let them burn some energy before we stuck them in the car for another 4.5ish hours.
Grant’s Farm is owned by the Anheuser-Busch family, so it is home to quite a few of the Budweiser Clydesdales. I love seeing those horses. They are just so huge and majestic and I still remember my first encounter with Scotty, one of the Clydesdales at Grant’s Farm. Abbie wanted to pet them, until one of them in the pasture showed a huge interest in her, and then she wasn’t too sure. I think that picture of my dad holding Abbie up to the horse is my favorite one of the trip!
And for all of my “horsey friends”, you should have SEEN the mound of shavings in these stalls. This picture doesn’t do it justice – that large pile in the middle was probably 3 feet higher than the rest of the sawdust in the stall! Crazy!
Ben was completely fascinated with the school bus and had to go over and check it out and say “WOW!!!” a few times. He’s such a boy.
After checking out the horses, we took a tram ride through the farm. This is where president, Ulysses S Grant lived for a while and the cabin pictured below is the only remaining structure in the US that was built by a president prior to assuming office. The whole farm is 281 acres and there are over 900 animals on it. It was originally owned by Grant’s wife’s father, who gifted them a portion of the farm upon their marriage.
After the tram ride, we went to the “zoo” type area of the farm. There is LOTS to do at Grant’s Farm, especially for the little ones. Abbie and Ben both LOVED it and I wish we could have stayed longer, but I also wish Mark had been there to enjoy it with us. We’ll have to go back with him some day.
My favorite part of the farm, and Abbie’s too, as the goats. You could buy little bottles and feed all the goats in this little yard they had them in. I thought Abbie might be afraid of them, but she wasn’t at all, and neither was Ben. He just wandered around in there looking at all of them while Abbie had to go hug and kiss every single one of them. I think she would have spent about 4 hours in there if we’d had the time.
In the black and white picture below, the goat was chewing on Abbie’s shorts, which she thought was pretty funny.
After seeing the horses, the tram ride, and spending a good 30 mins in with the goats, we didn’t have much time left so we quickly toured the old stables while my dad tried the free beer samples they give you in the courtyard.
Grant’s Farm was a lot of fun. If you’re ever in the St. Louis area, I highly recommend checking it out, especially if you have little ones! And the best part, it’s free! There’s a $12 parking charge, but other than that, it’s free!
No comments:
Post a Comment