Down on the Farm

A few weekends ago we packed up the rugrats and hit the road to spend a lazy Sunday at my parent's farm. My dad's chemo treatments have been pretty brutal lately, so we haven't made as many trips over to visit as we normally do. He's been tired and sick and we don't want to bring over two tiny germ-infested tornadoes to wear him down any more than the drugs are. While it's been hard for us all to keep our distance, we finally had a nice day in between treatments when Papa Golfcart felt really good, so we jumped at the opportunity to visit our favorite people at our favorite place. 

The weather was amazing all morning and we got a lot of worm digging, fishing, dandelion blowing, flower watering, golf cart riding, porch swinging and lawn mowing done. Speaking of dandelions...while Mimmy's dandelion blowing skills might need work, I've never seen a kid go after a bloom with more gusto than she did! She gave it her all and even fell over a few times - farm dandelions are tough. Mac ended up catching about a dozen fish, which was no surprise. Fish seem to find him no matter where he goes. He had to fight Pippen, my little brother's crazy one-eyed terrier over the fish. Pippen thinks it's his mission to kiss (bite) every fish in the pond and would hurdle a car to get lakeside if a fish has been caught. Much to Mac's dismay, we didn't make it down to the creek on this trip because the brush is so thick in the wood and ticks are out something fierce right now. Mac was the only one willing to brave the elements (so long as daddy carried him), so we'll save that for another day. 

The afternoon brought a few sprinkles our way, so we headed inside for snacks, books and naps (for Mim and mama) and art projects, fort-building and home destruction (for Mac). We ended up staying through dinner and bathtime, milking every last ounce of fresh air and farm life we could, before stuffing our little farmhands into their jammies and heading home. Even though they were both exhausted, neither kid passed out on the car ride home (unfortunately), but they both slept in the next morning, so I consider that a win. It was a very good day and we're all counting down the hours until we can go back. 

 Farm weekends are the best weekends.