Thunder the miniature horse and some wild deer

Shhh!  I see 2 deer ahead!

Today we began with loud noises of trees being removed and chipper shredded.  As sad as it is to say goodbye to lovely trees at Farrel-McWhirter-there is a good reason.  They are about to begin work on expanding the horse pen in the barnyard -so the trees had to come down.

We had a date today with Thunder, the miniature horse. Thunder has been at Farrel-McWhirter Farm for almost 10 years and is a favorite with our very smallest riders.  We learned about his mane and tail. We got to touch and pet his soft nose and neck.  We also looked at his hooves and talked about how they were similar to our fingernails.  I suggest you reinforce this lesson by asking your child what they learned about horses today.

Since the weather remains nice, we headed out for a picnic near Juel Park.  It was a big hike for many of the kids who are new to TOP.  But we had such fun playing "Stop and Go!" along the way.  We are working on reinforcing the safety rules we have at TOP by practicing how to stop when the teacher says "Stop!"  This is a real challenge for some of the kids-Please feel free to play this game at home.  The rule is that if the child does not stop they have to come all of the way back to the person who is calling the game.

Along the way we spotted 2 deer way up the road.  We tried to sneak up closer to the deer  but they disappeared into the woods.  We are inspired to try and find them next time we hike there!

A picnic lunch!

It is always fun to have a picnic lunch on the trail.  While the weather holds, we will have as many trail picnics as we can!

New friendships are being forged!

Running through the mud and ruts along the dirt road is great!

TOP Parents: Thank you for sending your children in waterproof pants,  We certainly used them today while we ran through the new puddles and sat in the damp grass.  I would expect your children to be tired and dirty today-and every day when you pick them up. You may want to have a change of clothes and a big towel in the car so your child can change on the way home.  I also would not expect to do errands after TOP.  They may be just too tired!