One of Those Days-Oh, and a Trip to Grant's Farm

Today was one of "those" days.  You know, the days that start off bad and just get worse . . .

Kanin didn't have school today and since I will be gone next week, I really wanted to take the kids to do "something fun".  I wanted to go to Grant's Farm and the kids agreed. (check out Grant's Farm if you ever come to St. Louis)

Before getting on the road, I needed to get the oil change.  I got up out of bed and got all of the kids dressed (a small feat in itself) and got them all some milk in cups.  I put cereal in individual baggies so that they could eat it in the car with their milk.  Well, this wasn't good enough for Kanin he wanted the leftover Chinese from last night.  We didn't have time for that . . . this went back and forth and basically ended with me yelling screaming at him, him dropping Chinese all over himself and the floor/refrigerator, having to iron new clothes, and generally everyone being in a bad mood.

We got the oil changed and set off.  Of course, still being upset because he got in trouble earlier, Kanin was less than cooperative.  He drug his feet on every little thing (i.e. seeing the Clydesdales, boarding the tram, helping me get his brother and sister off) that I was literally at my wit's end with him.  But, what was I supposed to do?  I had already driven the 30 minutes to get there, paid the $11 to get in, and it wasn't really fair for the two little ones to get their fun day taken away because of his mood.

Grant's Farm was offering a pass for $ 5 that included a carousel ride, 2 bottles of milk for the goats, and snow cone.  Of course, they only took cash so I had to walk into the gift shop and use my debit card to buy one which, is a very nice way of saying that I had to try to squeeze through a door with Caleb in a stroller, talk to the older gentleman who didn't understand why I couldn't buy it outside (HELLO, NO CASH!), and keep all 3 kids from touching every breakable souvenir they offered, and get them back outside without strangling one of them.

Get over to the carousel and wait in line.  I couldn't get 3 horses together.  Every time we would get to a section with 3 horses, Kanin would say he didn't want that one and then other moms with their well-behaved kids would hop on one of the horses; thus, leaving me with having the kids spread out.  So, off the carousel we go and I politely ask the man if we can wait until the next go round so that I can get three together and he gratefully said, "Yes".

Finally, the nice man let us on first and we found three together and Kanin declares that he doesn't want to ride the carousel.

Well, I just about lost it on him.  I mean I seriously just about lost it.  I told him that I didn't care what he wanted to do that he better get his butt up on that horse or I was gonna pick him up and put him on it and make him strap in like a baby.  He got on.

After the carousel, we walked over to get our bottles to feed the goats.  I HATE feeding the goats.  Those little suckers may look cute but they are vicious when they see you have a bottle in your hand.  With our Fun Pass (Fun, yeah right), each kid got 2 bottles.  They INSISTED on going in to the corral with the goats even though I told them over and over that they were not going to like it.  

So, we were trying to walk in through the turn style and 3 goats were blocking the way and wouldn't let us in.  Kanin was holding his 2 bottles, Gracie had her 2, and I was holding Caleb's.  As soon as we got through, the attack was on.  One jumped up on Kanin's back, one was in Gracie's face, and two wouldn't leave me alone but I was trying to bend down and hold Caleb's hand.  The SCREAMING began.  We immediately headed toward the "Out" gate.

"I told you guys that you weren't going to like it in there.  I don't know why you all just can't listen to me!!!"

Outside of the gate, Kanin was the only one who actually fed the goats.  Gracie and Caleb were still too traumatized and wanted nothing to do with them.

By this time I was totally questioning my sanity and wondering why in the world I thought this would be fun.

We walked on through the few other exhibits that they had and then ended up in the Biergarten . . . THANK GOD!  Grant's Farm gives away 2 samples of beer right before you board the tram to head back to the main gate.  The kids were hungry (so was I) and it was a nice day so I thought maybe I would splurge and just have lunch there.  $5.50 for a peanut butter & jelly, chips and apple juice and $6.50 for a sandwich for me.  I'm sorry, there was NO WAY I was going to spend $30 for all of us to eat PB&J's and deli sandwiches that were probably made yesterday!  We ended up just getting a snack to share, sitting for a bit so I could drink my 1 glorious beer, and headed home.

I had to make a stop at the jewelry store, Caleb threw a fit that he couldn't play their piano, typical day there and they understood.

Got home to feed lunch to the kids and that was just as much of a disaster.  Grace didn't want what we were having and flung the refrigerator door open, broke the 2nd row holder inside the refrigerator, ketchup went all over the floor and everything fell out.  It is totally broken so now I have no second shelf on the inside of the door.

The kids said they wanted to go outside in the backyard.

"Fine."  

I thought that would bring some peace and quiet until I heard screaming.  Nope, couldn't get along in the back yard, either.

Just a very frustrating day.  One of those Mommy days where you don't feel appreciated and wonder why you even try.

Anyway, here are some pics from the day.

Seeing the Clydesdales.  My favorite part of Grant's Farm.

The Ulysses S Grant House

One of the longhorns on the tour.

After being attacked by the goats, we moved to the outside of the corral.