Our First Official Grandkids at the Farm Day

Charis and Kol came over together to spend the morning without Dada or Mama for the very first time! We've been looking forward to this day, and we enjoyed it to the fullest!

First we all went out to feed the animals.  It was like a three-ring circus:  Didi feeding the pigs; Misty and Tai play-fighting; and Ping quacking her way to the fence to get her breakfast. Charis said, "I have a story about Ping."  Yes, I know, Charis--I borrowed Ping's name from that story!  All Ping had to say about it was, "Ping! ping! ping! ping! ping!"

In the barnyard Kol was a little afraid of the chickens and ducks, so he stayed safe in Didi's arms while Charis got up close to watch them eat.

 Grace (left) and Kiwi did their naughty thing chasing the cats away from their bowl so they could eat the cat food.  Didi made them get down.

As we came back to the house, Kol saw the tractor. "Get on," he said.  (It wasn't quite that clear, but we knew exactly what he meant!)  Kol takes his tractor "driving" very seriously!

Next we headed over to some friends' house to feed their animals while they're away.  I told the kids we were going to see a new animal and I'd let them figure out what it was.  We actually heard them first; as soon as they heard our voices, they set up quite a racket.  They're pretty funny-sounding:  It sounds like they're saying, "Bleauh!  Bleauh!" as if something was really disgusting!  At first Charis said they were cows, but then she got it right.  The lambs were a big hit because we could sit right down in the hay next to them and even sneak in a little bit of fleece-feeling.

Our friends have fun hay--square bales!  How can you have two kids near a stack of hay bales and not have a photo op?

The next big hit was their swing set-jungle gym.  Kol climbed . . .

Charis swung . . .

And swung some more . . .

And then they discovered the slide!  This is the good old-fashioned kind of slide, and it didn't take long for both of them to master it.  Kol got a little close supervision from Didi.

After the first trip, Charis had it down!  (Sorry, starting to pun is a slippery slope!)

On the way home we saw a doe with twin fawns.  When Didi stopped the car, Mrs. Deer very obligingly stood still till both the kids got a good look.

Our busy morning wasn't over yet.  We gathered acorns for the pigs, ate a huge lunch, and then took Mama on a tour of Narnia when she came to pick up the kids.  As everyone came down the stairs to say goodbye, Kol rang the bell on our First Official Grandkids at the Farm Day--and I'd say it was a resounding success!