Day 5 was a Saturday and that meant house cleaning. After a late start to the day we tidied up the house and gave it a good cleaning. The kids spent some time playing and reading also and then after lunch they decided they wanted to go play in the muddle puddle again. I will say I did not expect them to get quite so seriously dirty, but even so, I did expect a mess. I had a flashback of our days living in the city and realized that mud is not something one finds in the city. I remember how I loved that spring and fall in the city did not mean dealing with mud, mud and mud and a messy entrance way all the time … because it was either grass or pavement. If one wanted mud in the city one would have to dig up a hole and play in that … and so I agreed that they could go play.
Oh what a stinky (yes they put manure on the fields and yes you can smell it when you play in the water and mud … oh yuk! disgusting!) mess came back when they were done. Take note of the smart child who thought better of getting so disgustingly dirty.
Needless to say it was no easy task to get that mud off … I must say I wasn`t all to impressed and the kids learned a lesson about playing in the mud … really it isn`t advisable to swim in it
But after a good hosing and scrubbing and then a further shower and scrubbing they were clean again.
After supper Rob tried to fly a kite, but did not have much luck
Since the camera was out Marietta decided to take pictures … never leave a camera in Marietta’s hands, it’s bound to come back with the memory card full!! Honestly though, she gets some pretty good pictures and has a knack for it … or just the time to take a million pictures so that she had a few good ones to pick from.
Lightening
Thunder
Dash
Sheba (this is not our dog but a dog that we were petsitting for a month during the summer)
Day 7 was Monday and the morning started with just hanging out a home … with the camera again
After lunch it was off to the farm, this time a dairy farm … with a variety of other animals.
Once again Jada was not the least bit afraid of any of the animals. She was determined that she wanted to milk a cow and so they found a cow that she could give a try … and she managed to get a bit of milk from it.
After exploring the actual dairy part of the barn the kids went off to explore the rest of the barn. Upstairs were turkeys and chickens
And what’s a dairy farm without the hay and straw. And so the kids had some time running and jumping in the hay mow. Once again this showed signs that Jada has allergies as for the rest of the day she was coughing quite a bit.
Most of the pictures are of Jada since I put a photobook together for her to remember her trip, but our kids enjoyed the time at the farm also. They were too young when my dad sold his dairy quota and so they do not remember being in his barn and around the cows then.
After exploring the dairy barn and the calf huts and checking out the tractors we wandered next door to see what they had there. We found bunnies and a miniture horse as well as goats and sheep (and they also have a pig barn but we had already seen piggies so we skipped that part)
The kids were able to feed the sheep and goats some corn.
Actually they fed the goats, it would appear that the goats are the bullies of the crowd since they were all at the front getting food and the sheep were at the back wishing they could have some. Feeling sorry for the sheep Jada tried to feed them by throwing corn to them … but they didn’t seem all that bright in this aspect of finding it on the ground either … guess they’re just “outta luck”!
As I mentioned, Jada had no fear of any of the animals … except one animal which sent her screaming and running while in the process of feeding the goats … a spider. Okay, it’s an insect, but let remember she wasn’t the least bit afraid of the cows yet a spider sends in her into a panic. Throughout her stay she had a obvious dislike for insects and quite a fear of some of them too. She hated flies and was obsessed with having us kill the ones in the house. For those of you who live in the city I’m sure you’re shaking your head in agreement that any fly in the house should be killed. I sure enjoyed that aspect of living in the city … killing a couple flies a summer, leaving the screen door open partway so the little ones could get the door open without hurting their fingers, not having to yell “close the door before all the flies get in” all the time … yup, I can understand that Jada was not used to seeing flies in the house. But the reality is that when you live in the country you get flies in the house, and while you can try to kill them and keep on top of them, when you live in an old house full of cracks and olds windows … you’re bound to have an abundance of flies and at some point you just have to accept them and move on. Insects were not Jada’s thing … but all and all, for a city girls she adjusted pretty good to the country and all it’s insects and animals.
After supper it was off to Summer Soccer. This is a soccer program put together by some volunteers for the school kids during the summer months. The kids really enjoy this and it’s nice also for the parents who can socialize while the kids are playing as well as have their kids play soccer for a minimal fee ($4 per child to cover the cost of the medal they get at the end of the season).
Jada joined Rebecca’s team (and mine, since I coached the team) for the evening. She said she had not played soccer before, but she seemed to catch on to the drills pretty quickly. She played well and also played goalie for a bit. Her interest did wane a bit at the end when she started picking flowers instead of playing ball.
The sunset when we arrived home.
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