Memorial Weekend: only 3 more visits to the farm until my parents move

I am not talking about my parents moving from their farm, where I grew up, hell, where my dad grew up.  I am not talking about how I will never see it again or how my kids won't grow up playing in the woods, splashing in the stream, running barefoot in the soft grass.  Not yet.

Just enjoy the pics.

Imma gonna have to find a new favorite
background for family pictures!

Girl after my own heart LOVED playing in the water, flipping
over rocks looking for creatures and getting muddy

bench in the woods by the stream

Christmas 2015

Weather:  warm, nearly 70F, overcast and a bit rainy

Location:  the farm, western PA

From Santa:  Abigail got a tiny hedgehog stuffie, Joseph got a Blue Angel plane, and together they got a 4-person set of laser tag

Abigail's gifts: Legos, an MP3 player (which we loaded with a variety of music for her, yet she has gravitated towards the Broadway songs we put on it and has been walking around singing from Avenue Q and Book of Mormon), many Star Wars items (classic Han action figure and BB8 stuffie are favorites), t-ball set, Card and Go Seek game

Abigail got to go to a fairly new coffee shop in the town (there certainly was no coffee shop when my brothers and I were growing up there!) with her aunts and uncles, which was awesome to her.  She cherishes experiences with them so much more than gifts they give her.  The experiences (hot cocoa at the coffee shop, learning to play checkers, playing laser tag, watching her brother fall in the creek) are what she is still talking about several days later.  

Joseph's gifts:  Legos, a camera (it is SO adorable watching him taking pictures of everything), many Star Wars items, a kids' drum set (click here for a 30 second video), a lunch box (he has been so jealous of Abigail's), Good Night Construction Site PJs and Excavator stuffie 

My family put up with me trying to capture a new family picture to include Joseph.  The weather and lighting were weird and it was beyond muddy, but we did it.  

The Bittersweet:  My parents are saying this is the last Christmas at the farm.  I want them to live closer to me, closer to their 2 grandkids.  But I don't want to lose the farm. I cannot imagine Joseph never remembering it or Abigail pining for it.  I want the kids to grow up knowing the magic and beauty of that land, the woods, the creek, the quiet.  I wish we could just do a farm-transplant to Virginia.  

listening to music while waiting for everyone to
wake up and come downstairs 

taking 100 pictures while waiting for everyone to
wake up

hot cocoa at the coffee house

we were lucky to have such nice weather on Christmas
Day so Joseph could take tractor rides and Abigail
could play in the woods

Christmas #2 at our own home

J'adore

A Fall Weekend at the Farm

We went to the farm last weekend.  I love the farm in October.  I love fall.  We went when we did to help out my parents, who have had some medical things to deal with in the past few weeks (like emergency surgery for one of them and a respiratory infection for the other one).  

But there was still plenty of time for fun too.
We took the kids to a fresh apple market that also had a fall festival/ pumpkin patch.  I don't have pics of that because none of us took our phones and I didn't have my camera on me.  

But the kids played outside all day/ all weekend in the warm fall sunshine and fresh fall air.  I love the farm.  (Well, not in the winter.  It sucks in the winter!  But it is absolutely lovely in the fall!!)

Enjoying some of the many apples they
ate this weekend

Swinging from one of the apple trees

Joseph found my favorite childhood stuffy:  Mulligan the Mouse

Me with Mulligan about
35 years ago!

Last Farm Trip for the Summer

We took new family pictures at the farm

This is the sort of insanely-beautiful
farm day I am talking about!

Since our first day of school isn't until September 8th, we can take advantage of the wonderful August weather.  Warm days and cool nights create perfect summer days.  What better place to enjoy this time together as a family than at my parents' farm.  

Abigail loved to pick apples.

She also loved to eat them and
feed them to the horses.

Tractor driving.

Happy 4th Of July Weekend!

We went to my parents' farm in PA for the holiday weekend and had the rare opportunity to also have both of my brothers and one of my sisters-in-law there too!  My brother Jim hitched a ride with us to PA in the van.  With the kids.  For almost 6 hours, 1 hour of which was "Let It Go" on repeat.  It was an experience for him, to be sure, and probably some pretty compelling birth control. 

We enjoyed hanging out together at our childhood home, making new memories with my kiddos.  We are acutely aware that The Farm won't last forever and it is bittersweet, but having weekends like this are just amazing.  

Jim was a very proud uncle as he taught his niece the family game of croquet:

The next generation of siblings, having down-time at the farm
(If only there were cousins too...):

Showing off their dirty farm feet.

Catching lightening bugs (or fireflies).  See the one in the upper right corner of the pic?

My son needs a haircut.

The kids had mini light-saber glow sticks for the 4th of July.
They circled the perimeter of the camp fire area in an effort to ambush the grownups.

Bedtime is pretty easy at the farm.  They just pass out.

Jos got into fishing this time more than ever before.

Me and my boy.  

Uncles Jim and Dean got quite a workout pushing the kids up and down the hills on the big wheels.

Blueberry picking

Memorial Weekend at the Farm

70 degree days, electric blue skies, and grandparents.
What more can make a weekend better?

My beautiful kids posing inside a tractor wheel

Carefree afternoon

Riding a 30 year old Big Wheel down the hill

Farm Kid, if only a few weekends per year
alternate caption:  did you find a tick yet?

The picture of retirement

She was a very patient fisherman

Getting driving lessons from Yinski.
You can't tell from the picture,
but that lawnmower is moving.

On a bench in the woods with the grandparents

Helping with the campfire