Cox's Farm

Yesterday, Jeanne and I took the kiddos to Cox's Farm.

 

 

Kateri had a blast. She was especially thrilled that Aunt Jeanne could come!

 

 

The two main high lights of the day in Kateri's eyes were: the calves and the purple bridge.

 

Highlight numero uno:

 

 

She LOVED this little bridge that went over nothing and went from beat-down grass to another bit of beat down grass. She could see the beauty and challenge and wanted to experience it over and over again.

 

It really reminded me of G.K. Chesterton quote from Orthodoxy:

 

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”

 

This quote has been on my mind so much lately.  I think I have grown very very old lately haha. Eventually, after many times, Jeanne and I did tear Kateri away in search of other things!

 

Highlight numero dos:

 

Olaf and Sven, the two little calves! They topped the Kateri's excitement chart for sure!

 

 

 

Kateri is very lucky to have such an awesome aunt, who goes to great lengths to give Kateri a chance to really experience farm animals as close as possible . . .

 

 

 

We had to make multiple trips to see little Olaf, who was very friendly.

 

 

Unfortunately, we did not get a picture of Olaf's enormous tongue looping around Jeanne's and then Kateri's hair, trying desperately to eat a morsel.

 

You can't go to Cox's Farm and not go on a hay ride. So we went!

 

 

However, Kateri's general opinion of hayrides is this:

 

 

Yeah. Not so much.

 

However, we all survived!

 

Other highlights:

 

Playing on the train . . .

 

 

And the other animals:

 

future bacon:

 

 

 

The alpacas who weren't all too interested in us.

 

 

However, the alpacas did thoughtfully give us a show . . . of the excrement variety. Which Kateri found quite engrossing.

 

And whatever this bird is . . . a turkey?

 

 

Kateri kept fake-tossing food to try to convince it to come hither . . .

 

 

The bird was not impressed.

 

More pigs:

 

 

K-bear and Jeanne contemplating them and their overpowering stench:

 

 

Bash behaved great the entire time!

 

And he was positively angelic in the long line for the hay-rides:

I still am in awe of the giant watermelon (198 lbs!!!) and all the pumpkins. Clearly, Pat and I need to step up our games . . .

 

 

And that was the FIFTH biggest. Holy Moly.

 

All in all, we had a lovely time! Thank you so much for coming, Aunt Jeanne!!





A few fall memories

Seven rather random and fun little memories.

 

1. A week or two ago, we had some very warm and balmy weather, and Kateri convinced me that we really should make use of her little pool at least one more time before the cooler weather comes.

 

So we set everything up, and great joy was had by all one-year-olds.

 



The water was a little chilly! But that didn't keep her from playing in it!

Sebastian was very intrigued by Kateri's water shenanigans and no amount of distraction could convince him to shift his attention.

Soon, little guy, soon enough. Before I know it, you will be out of my arms and running around and splashing your sister with all the energy in the world. But for now, I get to enjoy you right here, in my arms!

Kateri's preferred method of extraction:

I guess she's not a risk taker?

2. The other day I went to Walmart to pick up some groceries. Thanks to Laura who gave me some raisins for Kateri, the trip went really well and both kids were quiet and even (is this even possible?) fun. I kept thinking, 'This really is amazing. Can shopping PLUS kids actually equal FUN?'.

Finally it was time to check out, and I pushed the cart up to the line at the checkout counter.

Well, as soon as I started unloading groceries, Sebastian commenced screaming. He was in the ergo, so I commenced bouncing. Kateri was in the cart, so she decided this was the ideal time to turn around in the seat and somehow get multiple appendages stuck through the bars.

Meanwhile, the checkout lady (whose uncanny eyes were such that you were never quite sure *what* she was looking at) surveyed us with apparent distaste or disapproval or something. Or maybe it just seemed like that because whenever I thought she was looking at me I smiled and she never smiled back.

So, Kateri started up with her loud shrieks as she crammed yet another hand or foot thru bars that were never meant to fit any humans arms or legs, and Sebastian's wails became even louder. And I thought as I bounced Sebastian even more energetically "I will just put this last gallon of milk on the belt and then address my firstborn who obviously is in no immediate danger of falling anyway since half of her is entangled in the cart."

 At that point the checkout lady looked at me (but it didn't look like it, however she was facing my general direction) and said with a completely flat affect and zero facial expression, "I think she's stuck."

Then I glanced back and saw the (apparent) bachelor behind us with eyes wide open in horror.

It was so funny! With some effort, Kateri's hand and feet were un-entangled, and moments after we left the checkout line, Sebastian ceased his wails. And they behaved great from there on out (30 second span to the car! but it counts ;) We are probably leaving horrible impressions on people. But, really, people just need to take life less seriously!

3. We had a lot of dreary rain last week, and so we did whatever we could think of to combat the cabin-fever that comes with it.

One thing we did was go to the mall to just walk around. Kateri could not believe her luck in being able to walk on her own. She was very good about holding my hand!

She wanted to explore everything.

Even tables were exciting!

She also enjoyed delicious libations while perusing the racks at H&M.

And I fought my fear of the fomite and let her play in the kid's play-place (although I still shudder when I see these pics. . . uggg).

 

There were some other kids there as well which made Kateri very very happy!

All in all, it is a good option for getting out during the cold months, although I think it's pretty safe to say that we all prefer Chick-Fil-A :)

4. We also were blessed to go see Aunt Gigi and Uncle Dick, which was so much fun for both of the littles, though I unfortunately only have one shot of the visit.

Kateri had a great time and especially loved when great Aunt Gigi showed her some pictures!


5. Kateri has a new favorite toy. She is not picky and is more than happy to push either Sebastian or herself on it.

She is quite good at getting some serious momentum going.

Thankfully no one has been hurt . . . and I am planning on retiring this swing to some other location soon!


6. After a particularly rough day, Pat kindly sent me on a solo run when he got home from work. When I came back home, this is what I saw:

All three enjoying Signing Times!

7. Usually I hold Sebastian most of the day, but come the evening, it is K-bear's turn:

Bonus:

This week we also went to Burke Lake with Laura and Mimi, which was a blast. They have a great playground which the girls loved. And the weather was picture perfect, and such a treat to enjoy the fall color. Unfortunately I did not get many pictures, but here is one of the highlights of the trip, from Kateri's eyes.

Eager excitement

 

As the birds approach:

The geese were quite audacious and had no fear of people. I pretended to go to chase one to try to scare it off, and it just stood its ground, even though I got to about 1 foot away. Hence, Mimi bravely took up the stale bread and was the only one to feed the geese because they were just a bit too much for Kateri and Charlotte!