Sojourn at the Farm

We needed to get way for a bit, and we're lucky to have that ability. We have both the Farm (in panhandle Texas) and the Cabin (in the northern reaches of California), but at this time of year, the Cabin is not ready for guests. The timing worked out for us...

Two weeks at the Harrison Farm. It was Camille's second visit, and she was a fan right away:

The drive in was planned to be a three day trip, but Cass was adamant about "going to see Poppy,", his name for Grandpa Ron. As we pushed on through on that last day, arriving in the wee hours of a Sunday, Cass, asleep, coughed and whimpered. As parents, and as humans with some life experience, we could tell he was sick with something, something we wouldn't have brought him here had we known about it while still in California.

But we were just arriving, and that was that. 

We're all still recovering.

The kids loved Poppy's truck...

One day we walked in a large, sweeping arc, covering grasslands that I once thought were rattlesnake haven. It isn't, and the views are awesome:

The farmhouse complex is visible on the right above.

Below, we followed a deer path for a stretch:

Cass had some character building moments with his older cousins. Here, we see him with his 11 year old cousin Colton:

And here his pants have been changed by those cousins, and a cap put onto his head:

We weren't on that trip, in the old farm truck---Ol' Blue---down to the spring area. We did walk down to the spring, but most of the Ol' Blue trips were during supper-fixing times, and I was staunchly embedded in a leadership role at those times, so I missed out.

Camille started exhibiting new things---a new fierce independence; a laughing violence towards her brother---but took a while to warm up to people. Well, not that exactly, just when it came to being picked up and/or held. Eventually, it was Poppy who was the first winner:

The turkeys were out near the end of our trip:

I would whistle, and torment the turkeys. They'd dip their heads and gobble-gobble angrily. Silly dinosaurs...

We left on my birthday and made it all the way to Albuquerque, which isn't really all that far. The next day we drove to Flagstaff and payed for a while, then drove on to Kingman, AZ for dinner, and then on still to Needles to stay for the night. We mobbed it home Sunday.

Any trip to the farm is a blur of family and laughter and hard conversations under the stars. After returning, it starts to resemble a dream (as any trip does).

Always wonderful and relaxing.