January 8, 2015 was a momentous day for my girls. It was to be full of long car trips, education, cows, ice cream, Girl Scouts, and basketball. Okay, I admit not all those things are thematically connected, but they still all added up to a long day of fun. The only drawback? We had to ditch Grandma & Grandpa Nash the entire day, due to our making event reservations long before we learned they were coming to visit. Thankfully, my parents were good sports about the whole thing, and found ways to entertain themselves that day.
The first full week of January is often a restless week for our family. All the public schools are back in session, having finished their holiday break. Most people are back at work full-time. "Real life" (for the rest of the world, at least) has set in. However, our kids' charter school gives our kids a
three-week winter break, so we are sometimes the only kids in the neighborhood left at home. Thanks to a few recommendations, I had an idea for an exciting road trip to do that week...
...we would take
a tour of the Shamrock Dairy Farm! Lorelai loves cows; they are her favorite animal. I'm not sure why, but there's no denying that she gets excited every time she sees one. At a dairy farm, I reasoned, she'd be sure to see as many cows as her heart desired. Besides the livestock, I thought all the girls would also be interested in seeing where our milk comes from. Plus, ice cream after the tour!
We invited a lot of friends to join us; most of the people who signed up were fellow charter-school students and their parents. In all, we ended up with a group of about 25 people. We met up at the farm, which is located in Stanfield, Arizona (several miles west of Casa Grande). It ended up being quite a long drive; about 90 minutes. My recommendation to anyone from Sahuarita who wants to take the farm tour: plan on entertaining your kids in the car for a while! And bring snacks, too.
When we arrived at the farm, who were the first to greet us? Why, cows...lots and lots and
lots of cows...
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| The kids spent many long minutes "mooing" at the cows |
Apparently, there was a group of cows out on a morning exercise circuit. They stopped by the fence to say "hello" before heading off to be fed and/or milked. All the kids were in heaven.
Before long, though, our entire tour group had arrived, and it was time to get on the tram and head out to the farm!
We got to drive past a large grain storage area, as well as several ventilated feeding areas. In January, all the fans weren't necessary, but I imagine they would be very helpful to the cows during the long hot summer.
After driving past the feeding areas, the tram took a short break at an educational playground in the middle of the farm. There was a playground, a maze, and even a cow statue fitted with an actual mechanical milker.
Kids were invited to put their fingers into the milker to get a sense of how it feels to be milked. It was an interesting sensation...it felt like a massage! Celeste especially liked the feeling...
After this short break, the tour took us into a large observation room, where we were able to look into a milking barn. It was quite a sight, to see hundreds of cows all lined up to be milked!
The cows only remained at their milking stations for a few minutes while being milked; then they were quickly released and moseyed off, at which time another large group of cows would mosey into position. It was all very regulated and orderly; I was impressed! The girls loved watching them walk back and forth.
Shamrock Farms was proud of the fact that the cow's milk was never once touched by human hands on their farm. They operate on a "teat to table" system, as our tour guide somewhat indelicately put it. These pipes coming out of the wall simulated the temperature of the milk upon leaving the cow (the top pipe), and the temperature to which the milk was cooled in order to transport it to the processing facility.
I was impressed by the relative cleanliness of the farm. I've been on other farms before, and they often are
very filthy and smelly. But while Shamrock Farm had a definite "bovine" odor throughout, I actually thought it was relatively clean and comfortable looking...at least as far as these things go. I confess to being more favorably inclined towards Shamrock Farms products after this tour; even though their milk tends to be more expensive than the store brand, I was more tempted to buy it after seeing the farm in operation.
After spending a while watching cows get milked (and watching an instructional video), the tour group headed for the last part of the farm: the "maternity ward," where pregnant and/or sick cows were cared for. And, of course, the "nursery," where the new calves were kept. There were hundreds of calves there; it was amazing! On my grandfather's farm, it was always a big day when a new calf was born. Here in Shamrock Farms, dozens of calves are born every week! Maybe it is no longer exciting to the farm workers to greet all these calves...but I thought they were adorable.
And the kids even got the chance to feed a few new calves up close and personal!
After all this excitement, the kids reluctantly headed back towards the main barn at the farm's entrance. There, each visitor was given an individual serving of flavored milk (I chose the protein-fortified chocolate milk...yum!). Also on the menu was Shamrock Farms' ice cream, for only a dollar a scoop!
The girls loved their ice cream, the cows, and the entire tour. Due to the size of our tour group, we paid a group discount, which I thought was an excellent deal given the quality of the tour. I am sure we will visit the farm again someday. On this day, though, we didn't linger too long. Eventually, we piled into the car and headed home...
...but only for a few hours! As it turned out, we had another big event to attend that very same evening: a women's college basketball game!
This game was part of a special promotion by Girl Scouts of America, as a way to get everyone excited about the upcoming cookie sales (those sales started the following week; more on that later). Since we have a Girl Scout in the family, each of us was able to get game tickets for only $3! That night, we drove to campus and met Nathan at the McKale Center (he took the bus over from work). Despite not being a huge basketball fan, Nathan decided to join in so we could have a family fun night together. Our church friends the Hardys were also at the game (their daughter Sophie is also a Girl Scout, albeit in a different troop). After halftime, we managed to meet up with them and sit near them for the remainder of the game.
The girls all enjoyed themselves, especially Lorelai. For some reason, she has become obsessed with basketball lately. The basketball she received for Christmas was her favorite gift, and she often goes outside and dribbles it around our street (our neighbors have a hoop that she will frequently shoot at, too). She was able to follow most of the game's action, and clapped and cheered loudly throughout. Celeste and Aurora lost interest a lot faster, but they did enjoy watching the cheerleaders perform! (sigh). All three girls also loved watching the spirit band; Lorelai kept an eye out for all the trombone players and cheered loudly for them!
The girls even got the chance to meet the University of Arizona's mascot:
There were Girl Scout-related activities going on in the upper decks of the arena; lots of cookie-related crafts, booths & the like. We were a little late to the game, so we didn't participate in any of them. It was still pretty impressive to see such a large gathering of Girl Scouts and their families together.
The only downside to watching the basketball game? The game itself! The University of Arizona were playing Arizona State University, their arch-rivals from up in Tempe; even so, it was a complete blowout by the visiting team. The U of A girls were outclassed in height, reach, speed, rebounding, and points scored (obviously). The Lady Wildcats ended up losing the game by more than 40 points, and it was never close. It was disappointing; the men's basketball team is usually one of the best in the nation, so I'd had high hopes for the women's team. But alas, it wasn't to be. No matter; we all went out to celebrate the evening with cheap tacos after the game was done, then (finally!) drove home, where our warm beds (and Grandma & Grandpa Nash) awaited us.
It had been an incredibly busy day, filled with lots of driving, but lots of exciting events as well. We learned a little bit about where our food comes from, and we had a great time cheering for a local sports team. It was a great way to wrap up our holiday break; after this, it was time to start getting ready for school (and real life) again.
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