Dairy cows 101

My best friend Hollie and I loaded up in my van a few weeks ago and took our kids to a mobile dairy demonstration at a local library. We'd been planning this trip for a while, but somewhere along the way neglected to check the weather. 

Had we flipped on the television to catch the weather report we would have been clued into the fact it would be hot enough to melt the gonads off of a brass monkey. It's probably a good thing, though, that we were unaware of the weather situation because being two gals who don't care to get all hot and sweaty, we likely would have called off the trip and sat at home under the air conditioner.

The trip started well enough with everyone settled into their seats with their eyes focused on an episode of :"The Animaniacs," (sending out a big thank you to whomever declared vans should come equipped with DVD players.) However, upon arriving at the library we discovered: 1. the aforementioned heat and 2. we would need to climb a small pebble, glass and stick-covered hill to get to where the demonstration was being held. 

I would just like to recommend to the library folks that in the future should patrons need to hike to an event it would be a grand idea to post this information on your website or Facebook page so they can wear some manner of footwear other than flip-flops.

Anyway, we hauled our toddlers, diaper bags and ourselves up the hill while the older kids zoomed up it with the speed of youth. Hollie wisely allowed Cooper, her baby boy, to walk alongside her. I, however, chose to navigate rather unsteadily to the top while holding Lola on my hip, toting my bag on my other side and wearing totally unappropriate footwear.

At the top of the hill we found Cocoa the cow and her handler/presenter Amanda. The older kids, Amelia, Jesse-Grace and Duece, were pretty interested in what Amanda had to say, but Lola and Cooper weren't too keen on gaining knowledge about how milk gets from the farm to our refrigerator.

Notice how well Amelia, in purple, and Duece, in red, are paying attention. They're soaking in all the information just like the little sponges they are.

 Lola, on the other hand, isn't even looking at the demonstration because she was way too interested in poking at the ant hills and the ants living in said hills that she discovered and that I spent the better part of the presentation trying to keep her out of. 

Keeping Lola out of the ant hills was a breeze compared to the hassle Hollie had with Cooper. He was completely enamored with Cocoa and wanted to be as close as possible to her, something which his poor momma tried desperately to keep him from doing. Look at that boy! Don't let that sweet face fool you, he was causing chaos for Hollie just seconds before this photo was taken. 

After teaching us and the other 110 or so sweltering guests all about dairy cows, Amanda invited the kids up to pet Cocoa. Amelia, who declared she looked just like a real farm girl in her pigtails, reported Cocoa was very soft, but sweaty. Nice to know us humans weren't the only ones about to keel over in the heat.

Cooper finally got to get up close and personal with Cocoa and, judging by the look on this sweet face as his big sister Jesse-Grace brings him in for a touch, this moment was well worth the wait. Looks as though Duece quite enjoyed his visit with her as well.

Cocoa, for the record, just seems happy to have had some milk, which is in the glass container at the top right of the photo, removed from her heaving udder. I don't know that I would have been as content as Cocoa appears if I were four months pregnant, sweating like nobody's business and bursting with milk. However, I do know what it's like to be engorged, so maybe her contentment is genuine, bless her heart.