Our holiday weekend road trip started off with a visit to my long-time friend's new home/farm. My kids had a ball playing with her kids and exploring her new house and helping bottle feed their calf and pat their chicks. After a short visit there, we headed on to Papa's farm. We hit the "wee hills" on the way, which the kids loved. Emma, in particular, was squealing over every one. They are really at the perfect age to enjoy the tummy tickles from those big hills near Blaine. :)
Sarah and me...we've been friends for almost 25 years!
Since it's Memorial Day weekend, when we first got to the farm we took a load of fresh flower hanging baskets to the cemetery to decorate the headstones of our relatives. Sarai's grave got two hanging baskets, to add to the other flowers already there.
Sarai's beautiful headstone and flowers
Evan and Emma had a great time playing with their cousins. Tyrah had to work several of the days we were in town, so we didn't get to hang out with her as much. The boys were busy doing work on Papa's farm, but they still had plenty of time to play with Evan and Emma. We played baseball, took walks around the farm, rode in the Kubota, and the kids rode tricycles, swung on the swings, splashed in the mud, and played basketball. By the last day of our visit, Papa even found a job that my kids could help with (cleaning out the horse barn, see below). The boys gave Emma one of their small fidget spinners, which she was very excited about since Evan recently had gotten one. I think Evan was excited for Emma to have one now too.
Emma and her new toy, Evan hanging by his cousins who'd been working in the barn
Recent rain left some puddles and mud to play in!
Emma had some fun in the muddy puddles too!
The kids loves Papa's all terrain tricycles!
Evan had not played baseball before, but he sure had fun learning and did quite well too. He likes to swing right-handed, but he threw the ball left-handed. He mostly wanted to practice batting, but we eventually set up a makeshift baseball diamond and started teaching him to run the bases. I guess we'll have to look into getting him into T-ball or softball soon (maybe next summer in case we've missed the deadlines for this summer).
Love this action shot of Emma having just pitched to Evan who just swung
Donovan pitching to John
Emma playing with Margaret and Evan swinging
One of our family traditions is to trick the kids with a dirt cake. Usually this is for a birthday, but I wanted to do it now with them while they are at a gullible age. Turns out John was even a bit tricked by this! :) The first time I'd seen a dirt cake, was for my sister and my shared birthday celebrations many years ago when we were young, and my Aunt Linda brought it in a pot with a fake flower sticking out the top. So I asked her to make that for Evan and Emma so we could all have it as dessert one night, and it was great. They both were in disbelief when I stuck my finger in the "dirt" and licked it off. Then we scooped a spoonful of "dirt" and Emma was brave and willing to try it. She looked a bit confused as she ate it, because I think she thought she should be making an "ewww" face, but she realized it wasn't bad. Then Evan was willing to try some and he immediately said "it tastes like chocolate!" At that point, the trick was over and we scooped out the cake for them (which is just cream and pudding under the crushed chocolate oreo cookies). There are also gummy worms in it, which Emma loved.
Unsure what is going on when we brought out pots of flowers for dessert!
Emma ready to try a spoonful of "dirt"
Evan's getting a kick out of watching his sister eat what he thinks is dirt
Confused, but not disgusted by the "dirt" in her mouth
Evan's finally trying some
Yummy dirt cake dessert!
One thing the kids loved about this trip was getting to hang out and play with dogs. Sarah had a dog, and there was a dog at Linda's and a few more at the farm. I'm sure some day our house will have one too...
On the Memorial Day holiday, the local cemetery puts out flags for each of the veterans buried there. These flags line the roads around the cemetery. We found the one that had my grandfather's name on it. I also took another photo of Sarai's grave in bright sunlight with the flags in the background.
Grandpa's flag
The kids also loved checking for eggs in the chicken coop. Usually we were lucky and there were two so each could carry one back. We took a few rides in the Kubota, once around the property, and another time to watch Papa dump a load at the ditch. On the way back from that ride, when we were driving up the gravel road, a very small and skinny snake was slithering on the road in front of us. It just barely missed us running over it (lucky thing), but Evan thought it was so cool (he's been pretty obsessed with, but mostly scared of, snakes lately). Having seen one definitely topped his list of cool things for the day. He also really enjoyed seeing all of the hawks in the skies flying overhead. I can't say all were actually hawks, but they were definitely large birds of prey. He'd shout out "hawk" and want us to see it too, many times throughout the weekend (including on the drives).
Evan just found an egg
Kubota rides to the ditch
What a handsome bunch
Evan was a hard worker helping out on Papa's farm!
Emma also helped a bit
Look at how grown up my niece and nephews are!!
It wouldn't be summer on the farm without a game of croquet!
It was a really great visit, but of course it went by so fast. I think the kids had a great time. They also got to play at the town playground, so between all of the fun on the farm and that, they are pretty happy with their vacation. Emma kept telling me so many times during the trip how it was the best trip ever, and we were having such a fun adventure. I am so glad my kids are able to visit the farm and get to see and do all the fun and also educational things that a farm can provide. And they are just getting old enough to really be able to experience it fully, so upcoming visits should continue to be just as fun, if not even better.
Update: On the morning we left, Evan was genuinely very sad to have to leave. He had retreated to the bedroom and I found him crying and sad saying he wanted to stay, and that Papa's farm was so much fun. He noted that he loved helping Papa with farm chores and riding the tricycles (doing wheelies on them in particular) were some of his favorite things. There will definitely be many more summers at the farm for this kid! At least we hit the "wee hills" one more time as we drove away...so the kids squealed with delight about that!
The kids with their Papa
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