Lambing Day at Amners Farm

I'm making a serious effort to get back into blogging! I also downloaded an app to blog from my phone so we'll see if that helps too. 

Yesterday (Sunday) we visited Amners Farm with friends. It's actually my friend from post natal group when Isabella was only a couple of months old and the two girls now go to the childminder together.

Every year since we moved to this house I would drive past the signs this time of year telling about the lambing days at Amners Farm. It's not even 10 minutes from our house so after nap time on Sunday afternoon we went to visit the farm.

It was a lovely afternoon and I think quite educational for Isabella. She got to pet lambs, watch a sheep being sheared - she was really interested in this process - there were piglets, chicks, calves and even puppies. You could visit the lambing area and we saw two lambs who had just been born. Isabella got to see the lambs drinking from their mommies, which got her asking for milk herself when she found out the lambs were having milk.

Explaining to daddy how the sheep's 'jumper gets taken off'.

We also went on a miniature steam train which was fun. Wind in our hair, sun on our face, through a beautiful forrest area. 

My attempt at a family photograph...

I think the biggest experience for her must have been riding a pony. I didn't think she would actually get on the pony. I asked her if she would like to and she excitedly made horse noises. When she saw the other children putting on riding hats she definitely wanted to go so she could also wear one of those hats! I explained that she would have to keep the hat on and that she would also be sitting on the horse (pony). She still seemed happy about that, but I still thought she'd change her mind when she actually had to get on the pony. She surprised me. She was happy to be lifted onto the pony, have her feet placed in the shortened stirrups, held on where she was shown to and off she went! The pony was of course led by another lady and I walked along too. Halfway through our trip around the paddock she said she'd had enough and was ready to get off. She wasn't upset so I said we need to ride a little further to get back to where daddy was waiting and she carried on happily.  Very brave!

We came home after a lovely afternoon at the farm still with straw in our wellies.

She had so much fun playing on the straw in the barn! It was built up quite high and even had tunnels you could crawl through.

Santa Train Ride

We went on a steam train ride last weekend. We all really enjoyed it so much. It was an hour trip, the adults got wine and mince pies and the kids got a juice and a present from Father Christmas. Was really worth it, Isabella was happy and relaxed the whole time, enjoyed some strawberries and didn't cry at Father Christmas although he didn't quite get a smile from her.

Isabella signing

Here's a quick follow on from the previous post about Isabella signing. She is learning new signs and sounds every day. We were looking through a book this evening before bedtime and I just casually showed her the sign for baby. She watched me carefully, then tried to copy me, watching and trying until she got it pretty much right. You can't see me signing in the video but the sign for baby is as though you're pretending to cradle a baby in your arms. She was so impressed with herself, she kept doing it over and over each time she saw a picture of a baby.

Isabella signs baby from Anneliese Mostert on Vimeo.

*Ongeveer 50 sekondes die video in (wanneer ons al drie lag) het Isabella 'n wind gelos! Ons het begin lag as sy dit doen en nou lag sy vir haarself wanneer dit uit glip! Een of ander tyd gaan ons moet ophou lag en haar leer dit word eintlik nie gedoen nie!