PINK LAUNDRY: Farm Girls

I'm sure I've mentioned on here before how very thankful we are to essentially have the best of both worlds between my parents in the city of Memphis with the zoo, childrens museum, plenty of parks close by and Jason's parents living out in the "country" outside Rome, GA on what we've all come to affectionately call "the farm". For spring break, we headed to the farm for the week and were blessed with beautiful weather and the girls had a blast exploring the great outdoors. That first picture is standing on Papa and Nana's front porch looking down over their property. The building halfway down the road is Papa's barn where he's also built a tree house and swing set for the kiddos to enjoy. The pastures begin just across from the barn and contain all of Papa's animals- cows, goats, ducks and the much loved fish pond. Jason says it's more like a petting zoo than a farm which suits all of the grandkids just fine.

Jason traveled for 4 days in the middle of our time there and during that time if they asked once, they asked 57 times when they were going to be able to go fishing. That's kind of been Jason and Papa's thing together to take them down to the pond to fish. I will be the first to admit that although I truly do love fishing too from my years going to the lake with Memommy and Granddaddy, I am absolutely no help practically. I can't bring myself to take a fish off the hook once caught (ESPECIALLY a catfish) and I can't for the life of me bait a hook with a cricket or minnow (the bait of choice). Go figure, I have no problem putting a worm on but those wiggly little crickets completely freak me out (could have something to do with a certain someone putting a handful of live crickets down my bathing suit back in our dating days when I was a good 100 yards from the house and privacy of a bathroom where I could strip down to remove the handful of wiggly crickets. I'm just sayin. For that reason I don't feel much guilt when he whines about having to bait the poles of all 10 cousins...). ANYWAY. Fishing. The girls begged all week to go fishing and were thrilled when Friday afternoon came and we loaded up the Kabota (transportation of choice on the farm along with the four wheeler)

..and headed down to the pond.

Of course, all the animals followed. When they see Papa and the kids they think food. This is why Jason has taken to calling it a petting zoo- mostly out of frustration when he is legitimately trying to fish and his line is being attacked by ducks or even cows....

(the cows aren't shy)

Finally got all the poles ready and it was time to fish!

Somehow I managed to only get a picture of Naomi. In truth, Maddie was the real trooper, catching 4 fish all by herself. Naomi "caught" 2- read as, she held the pole for 2 seconds (basically long enough for this picture) thus making it "her" pole so she claimed the 2 I caught.

It was just much more fun for the rest of the cousins to climb logs and wade in the pond water with their farm boots...

For Jason, this did mean that he was actually able to enjoy some fishing apart from baiting hooks and removing fish since most of the kids lost interest so quickly. He and Maddie even had a little contest going. They both caught 4 but we decided Maddie won, because we kept all of hers and he threw his back...

Another favorite farm activity is feeding the animals. The girls are always anxious for Papa to get home in the afternoons so they can go with him down to the barn and help feed the cows, goats and ducks. Especially now that there are several calves and kids (baby goats).

Abbey's pointing out how all the animals come running from the bottom pasture when they here Papa call..

Goats. Not my favorite. They're stinky and not so cute. But the girls love them and have even named several. I believe there is a Maisy, possibly a Madge. Okay, so the little ones are sort of cute.

All the animals waiting for their feed...

This is a view from the pasture where the girls were feeding the animals, looking back up at the barn (and "playground") and the house in the distance.

The girls spent hours outside at the barn with their cousins.

Such a fun week!! And just so you don't think Nana and I were completely absent from all activities...

We stayed busy inside. Nana in the kitchen..

Occasionally the kids would make their way inside and we would entertain them. Or, better yet, listen to them entertain themselves. Naomi and Cousin Caleb are quite a pair!

As for me, I was pretty much a lazy bum all week. Reading, resting, Nana and I did do some shopping for baby girl which was fun. My pride almost prevented me from posting this picture but I decided "what the heck". Here's the reason for my laziness...

One, seriously large belly (thank you Abbey Joy for taking this lovely photo).