Oh yes, the toads. Or frogs? No, I am pretty certain they are toads. Who knows.
These guys:
Well, they were everywhere. The Girl LOVED being a toad mommy for a day. I think she may have enjoyed that more than catching bugs. It's hard to tell because the toads were so novel that it may have influenced her excitement for them. We did eventually convince her that they could not come home with us.
Earlier, that same day, we were able to spend the afternoon fishing. Just a short distance from my Uncle's farm, there is a prime fishing spot off of a little bridge. It's a spot where you literally can't pull the fish in fast enough. Sometimes you pull the fish up two at a time here. My kids will never, ever, know or have the patience for real fishing because of how spoiled they were here. I'm going to be honest, I don't know or have the patience it takes for real fishing because of this place. I can remember fishing here at this same spot as a kid. It was so fun to see my own kids having just as much fun here as I did when I was young.
Here they are, the Fishing Fools:
As you can see, from the bend in the pole, they already have a fish (or two) hooked.
After a few rounds of fishing with adult help, each kid got a chance to reel in a fish on their own:
Ahh, sweet success (thankfully, there wasn't even a chance that they could fail. Is that still called success?)
And a few of them without fishing rods because they are cute:
OH! I almost forgot one of the best parts of this afternoon. Well, maybe it wasn't the best part for me, but the kids sure thought it was super fun.
Yup. That's my kids. Riding in the back of a pickup truck. Sans their cars seats. Heck, sans the seat belts. Yup, there they are just feeling the freedom of an open country road and the wind blowing through their hair. They thought this was pretty cool. I'm glad they thought it was fun.
They better not EVER do this again unless we are on the same country road.
*ahem*
More happiness at freedom found:
The next day there was a restful morning to be found. I have never been happier at my choice to switch the kids over to PBS this summer than that morning. Yes, the hotel we stayed at did have cable complete with Nickelodeon, but it was a Sunday morning and none of the shows they knew were to be found. Except! Except for on PBS. *sigh* Oh yes, PBS had shows my kids loved on for two straight blissful hours.
After sitting around for awhile, we (my mom and I) thought it would be best to exercise the children. The small town we were staying in did have a park, so we packed them up and headed out.
We really should have considered why there was no one at the park for a little longer than we did before we slathered everyone up in sunscreen, but we just thought we were lucky and were going to get the park to ourselves. I think the people who live in that small town were looking out their windows at us and kind of snickering and saying something like "City Folk" or "They sure aren't from around here, are they?"
To say it was hot and sticky would not quite describe that afternoon. Now, I am sure that there are some of you out there reading this thinking I am some sort of big ol' wimp because I can't handle a little humidity. Well, you are right. I can't. I can't even say that I am willing to try, actually.
Shortly after arriving at the park, the kids started to feel like they were going to melt (because we probably actually were melting internally), and The Girl had to use the restroom (of course she did). So as I scanned around looking for something that looked like either a bathroom type building or even an outhouse, I spotted an open door on an out building that was located across this grassy area/field-ish type thing. All we had to do was get there.
Alive would've been nice too.
There in that grassy area is where the
Awesome.
We quickly decided that heading over to a Dollar Store that we saw on the way to the park would be a much better way to stretch our legs.
Later that day, we had a chance to visit the farm my Grandma was born on. It is still being worked by family today and has pigs and cows. Usually we visit in the spring when all the pigs are having babies and it is way too fun to see the little guys all fresh and new. In August they look a little different:
They smell a little different too:
(Oh, by the way, that sky in the background? Yes, it is green. We had a little storm blow through shortly after this picture was taken.)
These guys are watching the storm brew and probably wonder what we are doing outside when clearly the weather is taking a turn for the worse.
That is the only picture I have of The Little Man on this farm. You might be able to make it out here, but he is holding his nose. What you can't see is that he is having a very difficult time, not just with the smell, but apparently he's not real fond of animals. Pigs, cows, dogs, cats: The Little Man is not at all interested, and also is a bit fearful. I think he might have been trying to find his happy place.
The next morning, we packed it up,
Oh, and the copious amount of Gobstoppers that I serve all day long probably help too.
I have to say, I too would like to hit the open road a little more often that we have. The kids did awesome, we had a great little get away, and it was nice to be together as a family without any distractions.
Except PBS.
We liked the PBS.
1 comment:
Riding in the back of a truck is awesome! I did this once in Guyana (where I'm pretty sure anything goes)... There is nothing like it! Glad they had fun :)
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