On Friday morning (ANZAC Day), we packed up and drove 2 hours north to the Nelson Bay/Port Stephens area for our Farm Stay.
We all stayed in a 3 bedroom, 1 bath cottage. It was somewhat rustic, but had cool amenities like the enormous covered back deck, wood burning fireplace and was surrounded by a lot of different farm animals, from chickens (we had our own coop), donkey, llama, goats, sheep, guinea pigs, guinea hens, ducks, geese, pigs, cows, and more!
This was our own chicken coop that we could collect and use eggs from. Unfortunately, we only got 3 eggs during the weekend, but the kids loved going in to find them!
I have to admit, the geese scared me a bit as they squawked and ran toward us, but Sylvia was fearless and protected us from them.
Here’s Jon collecting wood for our fire…and that sign in the forefront is for the goats, not Jon…(I think)
Kyla (& Hallie) got a good rest in before we set off to do farm chores!
First stop was cuddling the chicks
Next stop was the guinea pigs…I love how Holden holds it in his shirt!
And then we had a surprise visit from the python! Hallie was the first to hold it, Kyla wouldn't dare and we were shocked that Alaina finally said yes! Kyla did touch the snake, so that was pretty big for her too! (I love Hallie’s face as the snake was taken off of her…chills)
Then it was off to feed and milk the cows
Hallie using the tongs to feed the cows 
All the kids got to milk the cow next…and I just love the look on this cow’s face!
They got to take the milk they just got and feed it to the calf
All of a sudden we realized that everyone was loading up into the trailer for the tractor ride, so we got our kids in, but there was no room for us on it, so we figured we would just follow behind…there were a bunch of little kids on it, how bad could it be??
The kids were all excited…
Notice where they are in comparison to that BIG tractor wheel….and note, that it had rained a bunch before we arrived and there were mud puddles everywhere!
Off they go….and fast! You can see the first puddle they hit.
And here we are, following WAY behind!
By the time we caught up with them, we found Hallie and Alaina in the pig pen and this is how poor Hallie looked…NO idea how this all transpired! Poor baby!
Needless to say, we (Brian) carried her the rest of the way
We caught up with the rest of the group back near our cottage
And then Hallie was back to playing in the mud…and this time, there was no point in stopping her.
Donkey rides and feeding the goats before heading over to the duck pond
The view looking back toward our cottage from the duck pond
And then we noticed this picture in our cottage after all of that. If you can’t read it, it says, “Watch out for the mud”
After dinner, we put the kids to bed and went outside to enjoy the amazingly, clear night sky…with not a lot of light pollution out there, the stars were brilliant!
Back inside, Jon started us a great fire and we had a fun night of cards!
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