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- Hello, I'm Alexis. Welcome to Capitol Momma! I'm always out having fun with my little ones, exploring all that there is to see & do in the DC Metro area for kids. Join us on our adventures!
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Category Archives: Petting Farm
June – Monthly Roundup
Summer is here! It’s true, time really does fly when you’re having fun; I can’t believe June is already over. We had a fabulous month and kicked it off with many of our favorite summertime activities. Clara attended camps every week this month so June wasn’t quite as full of activities as May, but we still did some really fun things. The highlights of this month were bottle feeding calves at South Mountain Creamery and hunting fossilized shark teeth at Brownie’s Beach. Both were really fun and unique experiences!
Places we visited:
• Rocklands Farm
• South Mountain Creamery
• Franciscan Monastery
• Croydon Creek Nature Center
• Green Meadows Petting Farm – blog post from last fall here
• Dawson’s Market Farmers Market
• Potomac Village Farmers Market
• Carroll Creek (downtown Frederick)
• South Germantown Splash Park
• Brownie’s Beach on the Chesapeake Bay
Events we attended:
• Imagination Bethesda
• Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party at Encore Stage & Studio
• Art Explorers Family Studio at Glen Echo Park
• Rocknocerous “Plymouth Rockers” Album Release at Jammin Java
Classes and camps we attended:
• Geneva Day School Summer Camp
• Georgetown Hill Summer Camp
• Funfit Tots
• F.S. Soccer
Parks we played at:
• Hadley’s Playground – Potomac, MD – #41 in a list of the top 50 playgrounds in the US
• North Farm Park – Rockville, MD
• Cabin John Park – Bethesda, MD
• Potomac Woods Park – Rockville, MD
• Cedar Lane Playlot (corner of Cedar Lane and Beach Drive) – Kensington, MD
• Fallsgrove Park – Rockville, MD
• Glen Echo Park – Glen Echo, MD
Hope you found some good ideas for your family in this month’s list! We are kicking off July with a trip to Nebraska to visit our Midwest family and friends and celebrate the Fourth of July. Hope you all have a fun and safe holiday!
Also, I use instagram as my everyday blog and share a lot of photos from our adventures on my feed.
Instagram: capitol.momma
And I share more information and photos from our field trips and outings on facebook.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/capitolmommablog
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POSTED IN: Brownie's Beach on the Chesapeake Bay, Croydon Creek Nature Center, Dawson's Market Farmers Market, Franciscan Monastery, Green Meadows Petting Farm, Imagination Bethesda, Potomac Village Farmers Market, Rocklands Farm, South Mountain Creamery
POSTED IN: Brownie's Beach on the Chesapeake Bay, Croydon Creek Nature Center, Dawson's Market Farmers Market, Franciscan Monastery, Green Meadows Petting Farm, Imagination Bethesda, Potomac Village Farmers Market, Rocklands Farm, South Mountain Creamery
Summer Bucket List – 2015
We are ready for summer! There are so many fun things to do in the DC area and every summer seems to go by faster and faster. This year I decided to make a list of our top activities that we want to do. This is also Clara’s last summer before starting a full day pre-kindergarten program in the fall. So, we want to make this one count! In between trips to Nebraska and Rehoboth Beach, camps, pool time, bbqs, and tennis and swim lessons, we hope to fit these other fun things into our days. Some of these activities are our tried-and-true favorites and some are new things that we will be doing for the first time. I hope this gives you some good ideas of fun things to do with your family. Hooray for summer, it’s going to be a good one!
1. Go berry picking – Wegmeyer Farms, Homestead Farms, and Butler’s Orchard are a few of our favorite places to pick strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries
2. Play at splash parks – Chevy Chase Playground, Palisades Recreation Center, South Germantown Splash Park are some of our favorites
3. Go hiking – Croydon Creek Nature Center, Black Hills Regional Park, Lake Frank, Lake Needwood, Sugarloaf Mountain are some on our list
4. Attend the Hometown Holidays street festival at Rockville Town Square
5. Visit the United States National Arboretum (again)
5. Go see Encore Stage & Studio’s production of Alice in Wonderland
6. Attend at least one of the Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods programs at Wolf Trap
7. Visit a new park – Temple Hall Farm Park, Meridian Hill Park, Yards Park, Burke Lake Park, and Fort Washington Park are on our list
8. Check out a few farmer’s markets – Potomac Farm Market, Rockville Farmer’s Market, Potomac Village Farmer’s Market, Garrett Park Farmer’s Market, and Dupont Circle are on our list
9. Attend one of the Backyard Theater for Children shows at Strathmore
10. Play at BusyBees, a new indoor playground opening in Falls Church
11. Go to a Nationals baseball game
12. Ride the Cabin John train
13. Play in the Fountain at Rockville Town Square
14. Attend the Summer Market Fair at Claude Moore Colonial Farm
15. Take a Boomerang Pirate Ship Cruise on the Potomac
16. Tour the National Cathedral and Bishop’s Garden and play at nearby Beauvoir Playground
17. Explore a new farm during the Montgomery County Farm Tour
18. Visit South Mountain Creamery
19. Ride the carousel at Glen Echo Park
20. Go on rides and visit the animals at the Montgomery County Fair
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POSTED IN: Boomerang Pirate Ship Cruise, Butler's Orchard, Cabin John Train, Glen Echo Carousel, Green Meadows Petting Farm, Homestead Farm, Summer Bucket List, Wegmeyer Farms
POSTED IN: Boomerang Pirate Ship Cruise, Butler's Orchard, Cabin John Train, Glen Echo Carousel, Green Meadows Petting Farm, Homestead Farm, Summer Bucket List, Wegmeyer Farms
Jumbo’s Pumpkin Patch
Jumbo’s Pumpkin Patch
6521 Holter Road
Middletown, MD 21769
jumbos.org
I had never heard of Jumbo’s Pumpkin Patch until I saw a deal posted for it on Certifikid. After I looked it up online, I found that it was named one of America’s top ten pumpkin patches by msn.com in 2012. So when we had an afternoon free on a beautiful fall day I decided to take the girls to go check it out.
The Huffer family owns the 131 acre working farm and first purchased it in 1870. Jumbo’s was established in 1994 with a roadside wagon and 1-1/2 acres of pumpkins. They now have 30 acres of pick-your-own pumpkins, a 14 acre corn maze, and many other activities.
When we first arrived, we walked up to the big white barn, where I was excited to find out that there is no admission fee to get in. That just makes this place even better!
The girls spotted the animals and headed in that direction. Jumbo’s has sheep, pigs, calves, cows, goats, chickens, horses, and a very friendly dog.
Jumbo’s has all the festive fall decorations and has fun little signs sprinkled throughout.
They also have a playground area with a few spring toys, a tractor structure with a slide, and some hay bales for climbing and jumping.
Near the playground area is a concession stand where you can get meals, drinks, and snacks. There is a large picnic pavilion where you can sit to eat and enjoy the view. This lovely rustic barn is just beyond the picnic area.
Jumbo’s normally doesn’t offer hayrides to the pumpkin patch on weekdays (except for Friday). However, there were several people who were all heading out to the patch at the same time, so a nice employee said he would give us a ride on the tractor. My girls were excited to get to go for a ride and I was happy not to have to lug a cart and two little ones all the way out to the pumpkin patch.
It’s a nice ride out to the pumpkin patch as you pass the 14 acre corn maze and some fun decorations like this hay stack chicken. The man who drove the tractor was so nice and offered to stop so Clara could sit on top of the chicken for a photo.
Clara and Mae were very excited about looking for the perfect pumpkin.
The views at Jumbo’s are so spectacular, definitely the prettiest pumpkin patch we have been to so far. I mean, look at this view, so peaceful.
We stopped at the big white barn before leaving to pay for our pumpkins and also picked up a few Halloween decorations and snacks for the drive home. We had a delightful afternoon at Jumbo’s and will definitely make it a yearly tradition to visit.
Good to Know:
•Admission is free.
•Open 10am-6pm through October 31.
•Corn maze is $5/person (ages 3 & up).
•Additional activities on the weekends include: face painting, pony rides, mini wagon rides, and horse-drawn wagon rides.
•Portable restrooms only.
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POSTED IN: fall kids activity, Hayride, Jumbo's Pumpkin Patch, Maryland, Middletown, Petting Farm, Pick-your-own, Pumpkins
POSTED IN: fall kids activity, Hayride, Jumbo's Pumpkin Patch, Maryland, Middletown, Petting Farm, Pick-your-own, Pumpkins
Summers Farm
Summers Farm
5620 Butterfly Ln
Frederick, MD 21703
http://summersfarm.com
Last Sunday we took a road trip up 270 to check out the fall festival at Summers Farm in Frederick. It was our first time visiting and I must say we were very impressed with everything they had to offer! It had a great fall atmosphere and was not overly crowded.
As we were driving up to the entrance, the girls got excited when they saw the large area filled with all sorts of fun activities.
Clara first spotted the animals and wanted to go visit them right away. We bought animal feed at the entrance, so she was ready to feed the goats.
In addition to goats, they also have ducks, geese, chickens, llamas, pigs, and miniature horses.
After checking out all the animals, we continued to make our way around to all the other activities including the spider web climb, giant jumping pillow, tube slides, and apple blaster.
The pumpkin train was a big hit with my girls, since it is something we haven’t seen at any other farms yet. A little bumpy for me but fun was had by all!
The list of attractions continues – there is a playground area with animal swings, right-hand only maze, football and baseball toss games, pumpkin hut, corn cribs, tether ball, hip-hop balls, and rubber duck races.
There are two corn mazes – a short and a long. We opted for the short maze, since it is more suitable for the younger crowd. Clara was excited about finding each number along the way. The longer and more challenging maze spans 14 acres and includes 2.5 miles of pathways.
It was a hot day when we were at Summers Farm last weekend, so my girls were tired after just a couple hours of running around. Although, there were definitely enough activities to keep them busy for much longer. We didn’t end up going for a hayride to pick our own pumpkins but we did grab a pumpkin at the market before leaving. They also make amazing apple cider donuts that are for sale in the market. You must try them!
Additional Information:
•Admission is $6.95 on weekdays, $10.95 on weekends. Kids 2 and under are free.
•Lots of food options available at the Barnyard Grill, Sweet Shoppe, and Feed Sack.
•The farm is open at night in the fall and you can reserve a campfire ($65) for roasting hotdogs or s’mores.
•The farm is spread out, so I recommend bringing a stroller for little ones. There aren’t any paths but it is still easy enough to push a stroller throughout the property.
•Portable restrooms only.
•Summers Farm also offers field trips and birthday parities on site.
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POSTED IN: Corn Bin, Corn Maze, Fall Festival, Frederick, Giant Jumping Pillow, MD, Petting Farm, Pick-your-own pumpkins, Pumpkin Patch, Pumpkin Train, Summers Farm, Summers Farm Adventure
POSTED IN: Corn Bin, Corn Maze, Fall Festival, Frederick, Giant Jumping Pillow, MD, Petting Farm, Pick-your-own pumpkins, Pumpkin Patch, Pumpkin Train, Summers Farm, Summers Farm Adventure
Green Meadows Petting Farm – Barnyard Bash
Green Meadows Petting Farm
10102 Fingerboard Road
Ijamsville, MD 21754
http://www.greenmeadowsevents.com
Green Meadows Petting Farm is a fun interactive place to take the family. It is described as a farm animal learning center company. I had taken Clara once last summer before baby Mae was born but we had never been to the barnyard bash before. Last Sunday was an absolutely gorgeous day to make a trip to the farm for the their third annual barnyard bash event.
Green Meadows was founded by Bob and Coni Keyes in Waterford, Wisconsin in 1964 as a petting farm. Members of the Keyes Family have opened eight additional Green Meadows Farms in New York, Wisconsin, Texas, Maryland, New Jersey Connecticut, Florida, and Illinois. Every year over 500,000 guests pass through the gates of Green Meadows Farms. The farm in Ijamsville currently operates as “home base” to the family’s many business ventures.
After parking in the field and buying tickets at the entrance, we first headed down the hill to check out the animal barn.
In this barn there were baby ducks and chicks who were just a few days old. The girls loved petting them and watching them move around in the bin. There were also rabbits, a llama, cow, pigs, and a 10 day old calf.
Next we walked outside to visit the horses and miniature donkeys.
Then a person from the Green Meadows staff announced that there would be a pig race starting soon so we sat down on the bleachers to watch. They assigned each section of the bleachers a different “color” pig to cheer for during the race. Clara was really excited to cheer for our pig but sadly he didn’t win this time :).
Next we made our way over to the dairy barn. I love the rustic charm of this barn!
Inside we met Stormy, a 2 year old Holstein. Clara enjoyed milking her with help from the nice farmhand.
We made our way around the farm to visit many of the other animals including emus, pigs, sheep, turkeys, chickens, ducks, kangaroos and goats. The staff at Green Meadows were all very friendly and knowledgeable about the animals.
At the event, there was also live music, an ice cream truck, and several other food vendors. They also had a pumpkin painting station, pony rides, face painting, rubber duck races, hay rides, combine play area, and a mobile gem mining station.
This was a fun event and we will definitely make it a yearly tradition for our family. There was enough to see and do to keep my girls entertained for a few hours. I love that it is also an educational activity for children. Always a win-win if you can entertain your kids and teach them something at the same time.
Other good information to know before you go:
•Tickets for the barnyard bash were $10 for anyone over 2 years old. Normal admission is $12.oo. There is a $2 off coupon available to print from their website.
•The farm is spread out, so you might want a stroller for little ones. It is fairly easy to get around pushing a stroller.
•The farm offers birthday parties and field trips for schools.
•Bathrooms and concessions available.
•Outside food and drink is allowed and there are picnic tables available.
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POSTED IN: Barnyard Bash, cows, Goats, Green Meadows Petting Farm, horses, Ijamsville, llamas, turkeys
POSTED IN: Barnyard Bash, cows, Goats, Green Meadows Petting Farm, horses, Ijamsville, llamas, turkeys