Just another day: The day at the farm

As it had been awhile since our last visit to the farm, the kids and I made our way there today to check out the exciting happenings on the farm. First and foremost - to check out the progress on Mom & Dad's new house. They are building a new one on the farm after living in the many-times-over remodeled farmhouse since they were married. To put it in perspective, the living room in the old farmhouse was the original log cabin that the Brunner ancestors built when they moved here from Austria.. so, only about 110 years ago or so... So - much deserved to retire the old one and build a new one. I have heard so much about this house, that it was time we drove down to see the progress - AND - to celebrate my niece's birthday as Kristen and the brood were coming down as well. A very fun trip!

We were only at the farm maybe 10 minutes when Evan decided he wanted to walk to see the house. We all piled on the wonderful gator and took off down the road, only 1/8 mile maybe, to see the house. With any construction project comes the expected nails in the dirt, building supplies all over, and the best thing of all - piles of dirt. I remember when I was a kid and Mom and Dad were putting on the last edition to the old farmhouse (a master bedroom, second bath, and nice basement) and the construction dudes dug huge piles of dirt for the basement. We played with those dirt piles a lot - primarily dirt fights with our cousins and races to the top to see who was the king of the mountain. So, who could blame us when we saw the new dirt piles when we wanted to climb to the top. Kristen and I started the madness (with me beating her to the top and winning the gold medal) and the littles followed suit.

Here they are climbing, sliding, and rolling. Evan was found doing sand angels as well. It was a fun time.

Even Charley got in on the fun. While someone had to help him climb to the top, he slid all the way down on his own.

Kate wasn't really all about the dirt. She wanted to be held.

The three ladies at the top.

Evan had no interest in walking through the house. All he wanted was to throw and play in the dirt.

As you can imagine, after the rolling and sliding in the dirt the kids were dirty! The next move? Heading down to Bear Creek to rinse off! We piled in the gator and made the trip to the creek (pronounced crick, in case you were wondering :-) )

All piled in the gator.

The water was ice cold, but it felt good on our hot, sandy feet. We made this trip to Bear Creek twice today! Once in the afternoon when Papa could join us as well. The girls enjoyed walking up and down and Evan enjoyed throwing rocks.

Chilling in the back of the gator.

The rest of the day was spent having a rest time, eating at the yummy Drive-In in Durand, birthday cake & ice cream, and playing outside. For Evan though, no trip to the farm is complete without helping Papa feed the calves.