By Mummy B.
Two weeks ago, we spent our Sunday in Half Moon Bay (on the Pacific Coast), a 40-minute drive from San Francisco to the South (actually, the roads can be so congested that it takes much more time, especially when the weather is sunny in Peninsula while SF is foggy!).
We arrived for lunch at this little paradise for kids: Lemos Farm. It’s not really a farm but rather a small farm-themed amusement park. Open every Saturdays and Sundays year long from 9am to 5pm, this place is known to be quite crowded the last months of the year. Indeed they organize here the traditional Pumpkin Patch during Halloween period, and a Pick-your-own-tree for Christmas. But in Summer, you can enjoy the place without heavy crowd.
A merry and colorful place
The site is really lovely. It is a great place to have a walk around. Just like in the classic amusement parks, you can hear music all day long (except it’s rather country than fairy songs). The decoration is very nice: colorful and childish outside, and more retro for the main building where you can find the ticket office and a fast-food stand.
Being in this floral and colorful place, we took the opportunity to take some family pictures. Of course Mimi was not focused and didn’t pose long enough…
Activities perfectly suited for young children
The farm offers two kinds of tickets: single tickets by activity, or a day-pass for unlimited rides. We preferred the second option and it was totally worth it ($15 for Mimi B. and $5 for Daddy B. and me).
There is a lot of activities and Mimi loved everything. She even did some of them twice as there was almost no waiting time.
PONY RIDE
A perfect activity for our animal lover. Mimi has already ridden ponies several times and often visited her Mamy NB’s horse in France. So, ponies and horses are animals she already knows well. She is absolutely not afraid and love to ride, brush and feed them. That time, it was just a ride in a ring but it was long enough to make her happy.
Daddy B. and I were wandering about the condition of the ponies, but we were reassured when we saw the staff bringing them water several times and petting them very often too.
PLAY TOWN
In this playground, you can find some wooden rocking horses, a slide structure and a bouncing house. Mimi tried and loved everything. There are benches and chairs (most of them in the shadow) to allow parents to sit while they are waiting for their kids. It was so useful for us as Mimi B. was having a blast in the bouncing house and wouldn’t leave it.
TRAIN RIDE
This activity is for the whole family, so we did it together. The tour takes people around some childish or funny scenes of the Far West life during the last century. Saloon, gold mines, Indian tribes… nothing is missing!
HAY RIDE
For this second family ride, you take place in a big trailer and you sit on hay bales. It is very funny. Then you just have to enjoy the greenery surrounding the farm.
PETTING ZOO
The day pass includes a cup of food for the animals. So we went feeding the greedy goats, although I am quite sure they receive more food than needed during the weekend! Mimi knows very well how to feed a goat with a flat hand. Indeed her Papy C. has some goats in his garden and Mimi loves to take care of them.
Then, we were allowed to enter the goat pen (without food) to watch and pet the animals and their babies.
The park was hosting several birthday parties that day. Some bouncing houses and pony-ride rings were privatized. It was convenient for us as there was no big waiting line on the other structures.
A barn called “Scare Zone” can also be visited from September until the end of the Pumpkin Patch.
Lunch: fast-food or picnic!
Lemos Farm has a fast-food stand which offers some snacks and treats. But you can also bring your own picnic, what we did (tasty wraps from Trader Joe’s!). The picnic areas were reserved for birthday parties but we sat on the benches of Play Town.
It was a really good and fun family time. We left at closing time (5pm) and drove to the coast to have a walk and dinner… but I will write about it in another post!
