Yesterday was Deloitte Family Day at the Farm: a bunch of city kids and their parents having a fun time seeing all the animals (alpacas, sheep, chickens, turkeys); running or riding in a wagon through the fields; fishing; roasting marshmallows; and just generally exploring and adventuring! We got to do this because a partner at the office very generously offered to host us all at his home which is a working farm that does alpaca breeding.
Two Williams tip toe through the field to catch an alpaca. Neither of the little boys was successful, but several of the adults were. Below, the kids each get a chance to hold or pet the baby alpaca that my co-workerDan caught. A baby alpaca is mostly soft fleece, so it weighs less than 20 pounds. Will didn't want to hold it, so I held it while he pet it.
These little sheep always live on the farm, but the ponies were brought in for family day. Will took a ride around the field on Annie, which he says was not scary since the horses were only walking and not running and were really soft.
The farm has two ponds: one in front of the house where the kids tried fishing, and one that was a little bit of a hike with the reward of a campfire and s'mores on the other side. I consider the day a success: to my knowledge no one was bitten or kicked by an animal and no one ended up in the water! Will and Tommy spent a fair amount of time using oars to bend over the water to dig and stir and "fish" things out of both ponds. I'm shocked neither of them ended up in a pond covered in seaweed.
