Turkey Hill Experience

Yesterday we visited the Turkey Hill Experience in Columbia, PA!

We arrived early so that we could avoid crowds and the boys kept themselves playing with the large cow and ice cream container.

The boys (especially Caleb) grew very excited and a tad impatient as we waited for them to open the doors.

This is a view from the lobby. The "experience" begins with a large area filled with historical information for adults.

Then there is an area about milk (a critical part of making turkey hill ice cream) that includes cows that you can "milk."

Next you learn about tea and get to choose a sample.

Then the real fun began! The biggest part of the exhibit is designing your own ice cream flavor, carton, and making a commercial to go with it.

There is a random ball pit and slides to keep the little ones happy!

Caleb designing his ice cream flavor with Daddy.

Caleb, Daddy, and Blake making their commercial!

The last stop is a free ice cream sample!

The Turkey Hill experience is located about an hour and ten minutes from Baltimore. Admission is $11.50 for adults, $8.50 for children with 4 and under being free. It took us about an hour to get through the entire place. I do recommend that you go early or late as it was extremely crowded as we left and it would be difficult to enjoy if overcrowded. For more information visit their website at: http://www.turkeyhillexperience.com/

Wilson Point Park

Today we went on a play date with our friends Sierra and Savannah and discovered an awesome new place (to us any way), Wilson Point Park!

Blake enjoyed the slides the most! He nearly gave me a heart attack when he climbed to top of a "big kid" slide by himself and came whizzing down. This is the same boy who a few weeks ago wouldn't go down a little kid slide if I didn't stand at the bottom to catch him. I'm not sure how I feel about this sudden wild streak!

Caleb tried to learn how to swing by himself, but in the end his friend Sierra pushed him!

There was a cool airplane or shark. I am not sure what it was exactly!

My favorite part was the board walk on the water. Though smaller, it reminds me a lot of the Promenade in Havre de Grace. It was good exercise for Blake who ran the entire thing.

Of course competitive Caleb (I think this should be his new nickname) created a "slide race."

Wilson Point Park is located in Middle River just off of Eastern Avenue near Martin State Airport. You turn right onto Wilson Point Road (the same road as the Middle River Post Office) and then turn right onto Beech Drive. I plan to go back soon for a picnic dinner on the water. What fun!

Awesome Math Website

Caleb is doing well with reading, but struggles a bit with math. We've decided to spend these last two weeks of summer really working on addition. While I know math is a lot more involved than addition, I think it's a good start.

The website is:

http://www.fun4thebrain.com/addition.html

There are several games to choose from, but our favorites are "Color Your Vacation" (where you get to color after you unlock all of the paint colors) and "Farmer Fred's Pumpkin Patch" (we are excited for Autumn). As you can see above Caleb has a handful of two-color counters that were given to me at a math training. I think you could use most anything that is small that you have a bunch of though (pasta, pennies, marshmallows). I think at 5 years old he needs to be as hands on as possible. Today he discovered on his own the rule for adding zero and how to quickly add one. Him figuring that out on his own was way better than me teaching him.

There are additional math skills/games that you can find depending on what your child needs on the main website at:

http://www.fun4thebrain.com/main.html

What are your favorite learning websites? Please do share!

The Avenue Farmer's Market

On Friday we visited the Farmer's Market at the Avenue at White Marsh. It's been on our "to-do list" for quite some time. Part of our healthy new lifestyle means purchasing fresh fruit and vegetables twice a week.
Located behind the A.C. Moore at the Avenue the Farmer's Market features several local farms including Richardson's Farm. It's somewhat small, which is somewhat perfect if your are by yourself with two small children.

Despite the fact that it's not huge, there was a huge variety of produce. We purchased a watermelon, cucumber, 8 ears of corn, 3 tomatoes, and green beans for less than $15. I recommend walking down the entire strip before purchasing anything. This will allow you to find the best bargain for what you plan to buy. We wound up purchasing from three different stands after trying this strategy!

The boys enjoyed looking at all the produce. Caleb got exercise by carrying a watermelon! I have been working on colors with Blake and we were sure to point out the rainbow of colors found in the produce. People probably thought I was a little off my rocker ("Look Blake, green! Yellow! Red!"), but that's okay!

Another fun part of the Farmer's Market is running into friends. Above is a picture of Caleb with a teacher friend's daughter Sierra. What is extra special about Sierra is that her and Caleb share the same birthday! They were born exactly one year apart at almost the same time!

The Farmer's Market is held each Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. through October! The produce couldn't be fresher or more affordable, give it a try!