Visiting the Dairy Farm

This summer we took a trip to Colorado to see Aaron's family. His brother's family was on their way overseas to their next assignment and we wanted to see each other before they left. We were busy, busy, busy! One of the things we did while there was visit the dairy farm where Aaron's cousins live. The kids loved it!

There was a baby goat to hold!

A bucket calf to pet (and suck on your fingers but my kids wouldn't let him!).

And lots of cows. And since they're diary cows, they're very mild and used to close human contact.

So out they went to pet the cow!

That's Aaron's cousin Shelley, not me, holding the kids!

The fun didn't stop there. There were baby kittens to hold, too!!

It had been a long time since all of us were together. It was fun to chat and catch up.

Then there were all the calves to see!!

Oddly enough, Jacob hated the 4-wheelers. He loved Uncle Terry's last year, but he definitely doesn't like them now!!

Anna loved the calves. She walked up and down visiting all of them. One of them even got antsy and jumped out of its pen when she was standing right next to it!! She was startled but she didn't cry and went right back to petting the others. And then her mother won the "Mother of the Year" award. I forgot her up on the hill with the calves!! There were a bunch of people and Aaron had already taken Jacob back to the house. The older kids were around riding the 4-wheelers and I just completely forgot about Anna. I guess out of sight, out of mind, and I thought she was with Aaron (even though I knew he hadn't taken her). We get about 1/4 mile down the driveway and here come the older kids on the 4-wheelers saying, "We heard Anna yelling 'Mama!!' and didn't see anybody". It didn't even register at first (I didn't see Anna on the back of a 4-wheeler). There's another Anna (who lives there) and I thought why was she yelling for her mom?? And then it hit me. I HAD COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY FORGOTTEN ABOUT MY OWN CHILD!!!!!!!!!! Good grief. I felt horrible. Of course, everyone was like "oh I've done that before" but I still felt horrible. So many things could have happened to her-there were cows and bulls all around; she could have tried to find her way back to me and gotten completely lost and turned around...BUT God kept her safe and she just stayed right where she was and yelled for me. Thank the Lord those other kids were still up there! Anna was a little upset but got over it quickly. She didn't even cry. What a deal.
We had lots more fun while in Colorado and now that I'll have so many hours without at least one kid (this morning stretched on forever!!), hopefully I can get the pictures done and posted quickly!

Another Fair!

While in Iowa, we were able to go to the state fair. Anna was SO excited when she found out we were going to another fair! We didn't tell her until we got to the bus stop. You can park at the capitol free and ride a bus to the fairgrounds. She sounded out (with a bit of help) the big sign that said STATE FAIR and if she could have, she would have done cartwheels! And not only did she get to go to another fair, she got to ride a bus! And not a school bus (not that she's ever ridden one of those either)...a town bus!

She just sat and took it all in.

Oooooo...a BUS!

He, of course, wanted to get down and run around. Never mind that the bus was packed and those drivers are cuh-RAZY! So I sang "The Wheels on the Bus" to keep him somewhat pacified! He liked spinning his imaginary wheel:)

This was his favorite ride. Okay, he was only tall enough for 2 rides! But I was surprised he liked it. Actually, he wasn't technically tall enough for this one, but the worker didn't say anything! This thing went WAY up high and I was a little nervous he would freak out and try to get out.

He loved it!! He just peeked out the little window and waved, in between steering and all, ya know.

Hi Papa!

Anna got to ride a few more rides. She loved them all :)

This was the other ride Jacob was able to go on. He hated it. Hated it! Can you tell??

Oh, all these cars? They're just from the workers at the fair!

This is Mid-American's windmill (that's the parent company Dad works for now). It provides 1/3 of the power for the fair. It's a huge fair.

Anna and Papa rode the Farris wheel. She loves the Farris wheel. Jacob hates it.

Mom and I rode this thing. It was fun! :) And a lot louder and faster than I remember!

There's a calf right behind Jacob. You think he wanted to pet it? No, no. He's eyeing the BIG cows. I'm not even kidding. 2 seconds after I took this picture, he headed right for the big ol' cows!

Now that's one cute cow!

That's the cutest moon I've ever seen!!

Now guess what he's spotted...a TRACTOR!

Ewww...it stinks in here!

Again with the big animals! We had to keep his stroller away from the pens.

Papa got a little too close to the turkey for Anna's comfort! She bailed out of the stroller.

Those antlers...15 weeks' worth of growth. Seriously! (That's an elk, by the way)

He was a tired boy...the fair wore him out! :)

What's a Cow Say?

"Mmmmmmmmmm"...according to Jacob, anyway! :)

While we were visiting my family, we got to go with Grandpa Frank to feed a calf. Anna sat on the kitchen counter and watched with rapt attention as Grandpa mixed up a bottle for the calf. And then we hopped in his pickup and rode out to the feedlot. Jacob was excited enough to be riding in the pickup...when he saw all the cows, he about lost it! He spent the entire time pointing and saying "mmmm! mmmm! mmmm!" It was funny.

Anna watched quietly, taking it all in. Jacob was just so excited.

So fascinated.

Jacob is not the least bit scared of animals, as long as he's on the ground--remember? He wasn't at all intimidated to stand right at the gate next to this mama cow (whose baby we were messin' with!), but the second that tiny, weak little calf (who was so weak he couldn't even move by himself) made this pathetic, small bawl...Jacob got scared, started fussing and wanted to be held! So bizarre.

Anna got to help hold the bottle. The poor calf was so weak, he couldn't even suck. So they had to stick a tube down his throat and feed him through it.

Anna took her job as bottle holder very seriously!

Then Grandpa moved the calf over so the kids could pet him. They loved it (and I think the poor little calf did too!).

Thanks for letting us help Grandpa! Took me back a few years :)