Sunday, July 12, 2009

Deanna Rose Farmstead

We are so fortunate to live just a few miles from one of the most precious "petting zoos" on earth. You'll see that it's much more than that....it's a farm, a collection of playgrounds, a one room old-fashioned school house, dairy barn, fishing pond, an abundance of educational opportunities.....all disguised as FUN. 12 acres, almost 200 animals, and more.

The best part? It's free!

Built in 1978, it began as a small farm dedicated to honoring the first Overland Park police officer killed in the line of duty. Beyond that, its intention is to teach children about a disappearing entity....the family farm.....which once inhabited most of Kansas.

I can't say enough about how precious this place is. We visit about once a week....leave donations as we can.....feed the animals.....and walk the grounds.

Little Lainey checking out the playground.

In a cabin just for kids.

The sand pit.

The grounds are beautiful and everything is tailored for children.

And, as said before, it holds a wealth of opportunities for kids to learn about our heritage here in the Midwest.







Our new favorite attraction.....not just here.....at all venues. The penny machine. $.51 buys each child a souvenir. Carter has quite the collection going!





I love these old fashioned "watering holes".

Not sure they had these hand dryers on the prairie, though.

Time to feed the baby goats. $1 buys you a bottle. Of course, Lainey put it directly into her mouth. I checked before, anticipating just that. Non-toxic for kids.

Lainey seemed eager to help at this point, but once we got in, she was terrified of them. They're pretty aggressive when a bottle comes into view.

Jack took charge and fed them.



Jack and the goat. I love his willingness to keep trying, even though he was already frustrated with their jumping on him!


Tractor bikes.....their favorite thing to do here.

The fishing pond. I opted not to do this until Blake is present. Jumping in after one kid leaves one unattended, after all.



Everything is picture perfect....and this post doesn't even include the flower gardens. Absolutely gorgeous.

A new entrance being built. They're adding a general store, an ice cream parlor and more.



They don't miss an opportunity......everything is precious.

8 comments:

Malinda said...

You may already have one, but the Rainforest Cafe sales books that you can display your smashed pennies in. I've also seen one at a museum that looked like a passport on the outside.

That's a great thing to collect because it doesn't take up much space!

Shannon said...

Blake has quite a collection of pressed pennies going but you better get 'em while you can because machines are switching to pressed quarters instead now.

Moni said...

That pic of the hand dryers cracks me up....reminds me of the scene in Vacation where Clark tries to tell Rusty that they used to wear sneakers back in the old days in Dodge City!

The Soladay Family said...

What an awesome place!!!

Monica said...

Love that video of Jack. Too adorable.

SASS said...

I used to nanny full-time, and could barely keep track of a 2 year old boy at Deanna Rose. You did three! I really shouldn't act surprised.
Love the video of Jack! Great place for kiddos.

Coco said...

Love Lainey's outfit, LOVE IT!
And she is looking so much like Carter these days.

Precious Jack. Precious, precious Jack.

donatelli98 said...

I saw your comment on my blog - we are actually staying in Carlsbad (north of SD) for 4 nights. Our plans are two days at Legoland and one at the beach. We aren't as adventurous as you and staying quite as long!!!