A Day at the Farm

    A recent morning found us meeting some dear friends out in North Vancouver at Maplewood Farm, We had never been before but word on the playground was this is the place to go if you have toddlers- we decided to check it out.  What we found when we got there, a mere 15 minute drive from our place, was a bucolic paradise in the middle of a busy city. The way Maplewood Farm is situated you would never know you are smack dab in the middle of North Vancouver and that just to the other side of those trees is a Superstore.

  
     Filled with examples of your typical farm animals this is more petting zoo than farm which by 11:00 on a Saturday morning is teaming with small people under the age of 4. It got busy quickly and there were actually people waiting at the gate to get in- us included. This indeed is the place to bring toddlers on a warm summer morning- playground rumours confirmed. I would safely say that this place is great for kids under 4 years of age- the Boy got a little bored quickly after feeding the cute sheep. The milking attraction which involved buckets of water and squirting people also really seamed to draw a crowd of 4-5 year olds.

      Miss Lo and her friend however loved the Farm, the bunnies were a big hit as was feeding the ducks. Bird seed conveniently purchased when paying admission- perhaps the gates opened a tad late due to putting the finishing touches on the bird goodies? The girls are almost three years, born in a year when 5 other women I know had girls and they were all born with in 4 weeks of each other- apparently we moms were indeed drinking the cool aid that year. Three seams to be the magic number for a visit to the farm- the girls really had a good time and loved seeing the baby goats and cows.

      I had a lot of fun playing around with my new camera , a  Pentax digital SLR which makes me feel like I am back in Photography 101. No I wasn't lucky to have the cool professor Briar Craig who I heard was pretty much the most popular Prof in the Arts Dept. I had the crazy guy who walked around in socks and sandals, playing the jazz flute- I didn't learn much that year- but I digress. Needless to say I had a great time shooting tonnes of pictures of super cute kids who moved around a lot and super cute animals who did not move much at all.

Obviously after a trip to the Farm a stop in Deep Cove for ice cream is a must! Miss Lo takes after her mother (thats me) and has never met an ice cream cone she doesn't like- one day I will be saying that about Gin & Tonics I am sure. After our celebratory stop at Gelato Express ( what were we celebrating? I don't know- surviving the Clydesdales perhaps) and while the Mr. was mopping up drippy ice cream faces I slipped away for a few minutes to my favourite shop in the Cove for a sniff around.

Much to the Mr's relief and my chagrin I quickly realised I had left my wallet at home,  I could have easily come home with a cute Maileg bunny - keeping in the spirit of the day- or a colouring poster from Draw me a Lion. The choices are tough to make in such a well curated shop- hence making it one of my faves! It doesn't matter what time of year we head out to the Cove we always have a great time in such a beautiful place- and next time I wont forget my wallet!