My children and I headed south for a few days. Frank was busy at work and YaYa hadn't met Betsy. As I looked at the calendar I wasn't sure when else we would be able to head that direction so Thursday morning I loaded the car for a few short days.
This first set of images are just a few aspects of what I love about visits with my dad and Vickie. They depict the scenes I know and love and those that I want my children to know and love.
My children fishing off of the wharf with a cane pole ~
My children catching fish with their cane pole ~
My children playing with cousins ~ we think these two were just glad to see someone else wearing a life jacket.
My children going for a boat ride ~
A porpoise feeding in the bay and then my dad trying to engage them in play~
Watching Granddaddy share his love of the sea and salt air with my little boys~
Seeing the delight in those little boys' eyes when the boat goes fast ~
As we drove through the back roads of Baldwin County to get to my Dad's house I was reminded that this opportunity provides a whole different set of experiences for my children. Of course we are going to the beach ~ to salt water, outboard motors, sea life, and sand ~ but in order to get there we have to drive through the country ~ lots of farmland.
I took advantage of this and pointed out the few things I know about farm life. We saw barns, and silos. We even looked for weather vanes atop the barns thanks to a favorite picture book {The Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown}. We saw cows, horses, goats, and donkeys. We found corn fields and irrigation systems. We tried to determine what was going to be the next crop in recently plowed or planted fields. Would the field be cotton, soybeans, or peanuts? We looked for tractors, gators, and plows. In other words we engaged in conversation about our surroundings as we drove through these back roads. What a wonderful opportunity!
On Friday, we had a new set of adventures at Granddaddy's. Granddaddy and YaYa have a new favorite past-time ~ horseback riding. And with that adventure comes a farm ~ a borrowed farm that we all delighted in.
A new foal born about a month ago ~
Chickens in their coop and nesting box ~
Fresh eggs ~
An apple orchard ~
A tractor ~
As I wandered the land with my children I was reminded of the book that Mary Frances read to us at the library just before we began our journey south ~ On the Farm an Usborne Book ~ it is a great vocabulary book.
And now the reason we went to see the horses ~ the farrier was coming!
What's a farrier you ask? He is the one who puts horseshoes on a horse ~
Just a few more now...
Did you know that horses like watermelon - rind and all?
I want to go to the beach! I can't believe how big Betsy is getting.
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