The Farm

I have an added benefit of being married to my Daniel - his parents come with a farm. Although petting zoos are fun, nothing beats gathering the eggs every day, feeding the goats, and exploring many acres of land with no fear of being run over by anything except a guinea hen. Here are some pictures from Daniel's hunting trip to Tennessee with Abigail and Adah. (We've decided the kids will go in twos with him each year, and this year was the wonder twins' turn.) (And by the way, Daniel would probably like me to mention that he did get two bucks this year.) Adah and Abigail had a fabulous time and wore themselves out. They actually ASKED to go to bed at 7:00 because they were outside from sunup to sundown each day. Can't beat that. They also bonded quite a bit hanging out with each other so much, and it's nice to see the strengthened bond now that they're home.

This first shot is looking toward the long driveway to the road and the two ponds on either side of the driveway. (NOT a good driveway to learn how to drive a stick shift on, as I discovered)

My "A" girls - and look how tall Adah is getting!

Meeting Little Mac - more on the video at the end Adah gathers chicken eggs in the coop

In the goat pen with Grandpa checking out the goats

Hanging out with Grandpa in his favorite chair

Chatting over the day's events on the porch swing

The following two are my favorite - doesn't it look like they're looking for trouble???
"Let's go see where we can go and what trouble we can find!"

Adah feeds Little Mac (who will become (a) Big Mac, of course, when he gets bigger...)

Adah conquered her fear of going fast by flying down the hill in front of Daniel's parents' house on a Big Wheels they keep there. She fell off a couple of times, but it wasn't that far to the ground, so she got right back on. Since gaining confidence, she now flies down our hilly, bumpy driveway here. I can't watch anymore. :) She wants her training wheels off now - we'll see. :)

And Happy Birthday

Happy, happy birthday to my dear, wonderful husband, who has had MUCH better birthdays in his 38 years. He is still very much feeling the effects of his shoulder surgery last Tuesday, and a full night's sleep is still eluding him. I thought it would be wrong to post a picture of him all drugged up in his jammies and a skull cap, so here's a picture of him with the birthday girls getting ready to go out to eat as a birthday treat. I love you, Daniel!

(more about the adorable birthday girls later!) *sigh* again

Procrastination

You know that place where you feel like you won't ever get caught up unless you don't sleep for 108 hours straight and so you don't attempt anything because of the sheer weight of inertia?
Yeah, that's where I am.
Sorry, folks. I'll try to overcome my need for sleep and get my pictures organized once and for all.
In the meantime, here's a few from our trip to the pumpkin farm a MONTH AGO. *sigh* (This is the pumpkin farm where, ironically, we came home without any pumpkins. But a good time was had by all.)
Love,
Casey

Blast From the Past (2)

I'm organizing pictures online, and I'm enjoying the stroll down memory lane. So I thought I'd post a few for y'all to enjoy.
Note - I am not organizing pictures this far back, thankfully; otherwise, I'd be rocking back and forth in the fetal position. I just got sidetracked and wasted about half an hour looking through old photos.
More recent photos to come when I've organized them, like our trip to the pumpkin patch.
Love,
Casey

This first photo is of Shiloh when we visited Wimpole Hall and Home Farm in England for lambing season. It was our first experience with the weird picnicking habits of the Brits. Do you see that Shiloh is wearing a hat and coat? Yeah. We ate outside, along with all the other Brits who brought their little thermoses (sp?) of tea and their Marmite sandwiches. We were freezing, and it was all very strange.This picture of Cora is also from England at the playground on RAF Alconbury. She still has that same wide smile and friendly, cheerful eyes. We went to the playground the other day, and some kids from an after school program were outside. I helped Nathaniel with his bike, looked around to find Cora and said, "Where's Cora?" Shiloh pointed to where Cora had just found a new friend and was letting her borrow her bike. That's my Cora.The next picture is Abigail looking cute in Florida in an outfit made by friends from England (I seem to have picked a theme here). The other girls have now decided that Abigail will be the one to ask Daddy things because she makes "the cute eyes" at him. And breaking news on Abigail: she just caught her first fish on the farm in Tennessee. And so far she's watched two deer being gutted with nary a grimace. She's a tough, cute chick.Look at Jackson's cute jammies! He had the roundest face of all of them besides Cora. He was 3 months old in this picture. Now he's four and riding his bike without training wheels. I'm old.

This is our update picture from May of 2006 when we thought we'd be going to pick up the kids about two months later. Little did we know it would be another year and a half before we would pick them up. I missed all of Nathaniel's babyhood and seeing the last of Adah's toddlerhood, but God somehow redeemed that time and is making it all work for our good. It's amazing how He does that!It's great to have these adorable reminders that we only have our children in our homes for such a short amount of time -a blip, really. At least it seems like it as we age. :) As we are about to hit birthday season around here, it's a reminder to me to love on 'em all I can!

Wonder Twin Powers - Activate!

So here's what I've discovered since Daniel took Adah and Abigail to Tennessee on the hunting trip/visit to grandparents. NOW I know where all the noise comes from in the house! All this time I thought the boys made the most noise, or maybe it was the combination of all six kids, but NOOOO! It's Adah and Abigail! It's been so incredibly quiet since they left Saturday. Sure, the boys create louder outbursts, but for sustained noise level, you can't beat the twin chatterboxes of Adah and Abigail.

And I actually miss it. :(

Better Late Than Never From the Guest Blogger

As Casey has pointed out on numerous occasions, life in the Houseworth household never seems to slow down. As a result, over a week later I am finally adding an entry on my fantastic road trip with the kids while Casey was at an OPC ladies retreat.

On Friday morning, October 10th, we packed our picnic lunch and and an extra change of clothes for everyone into the van, said farewell to Casey, gave Adah her Dramamine pill (her stomach really, really does not like windy roads), and headed over the Blue Ridge Mountains and into the Shenandoah Valley. The day was perfect with clear skies and the temperature hovering in the high 70s.

PART I

Our first stop was the Natural Bridge Zoo (http://www.naturalbridgezoo.net/). Many of you who have traveled up and down I-81 have seen the signs for it. The Zoo has the largest animal petting area in Virginia, and from my experience, it had the most animals in one place I've ever been able to pet and feed (excluding the mountain lions, Bengal tigers, etc., of course). It's not a fancy zoo like those found in large cities because it is actually a wildlife propagation facility that is also a functioning zoo and education facility. Daddy's only rule for the zoo: "DON'T TOUCH YOUR FACE AFTER YOU TOUCH THE ANIMALS, ESPECIALLY NOT YOUR MOUTH! I DON'T CARE HOW BADLY YOU ITCH!" Needless to say, I kept a bottle of hand sanitizer in the little pocket on my shorts where I usually keep my cell phone.

My parents used to raise a lot of goats on their farm in Tennessee, but theirs certainly weren't as "friendly" as these. It reminds me of the time in Florida when we had a "hurricane proof," tinted film put on the windows just after moving into our new house. The man doing the work saw Cora watching him and asked, "so, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Cora, four at the time and fondly remembering her trip to the farm two months earlier, responded very matter-of-factly, "I want to be a mother and raiser of goats." She still wants to be a mother, but I'm not sure goats remain part of her life master plan.

The pig pen was right next door to the goat yard. How does something as cute as these piglets turn into such an ugly beast?! One whiff of the pigs and you can understand why it takes a very "special" person to raise pigs.

One animal you don't find in most zoos is the guinea pig. They had three big wash/feed tubs full of guinea pigs. Even better, there were at least a dozen babies. The tubs were located under the overhang for the snake exhibit. Convenient, perhaps? This was definitely the kids' favorite exhibit as it required a return trip before we left the zoo. There was a for sale sign over the tubs, and the kids did ask if we could buy one to take home. Recalling the marital strife barely averted when I brought home Prince Caspian the beta fish, I chose to honor my better half's wishes to limit the number of pets we'd have to find temporary homes for when we take trips.

In spite of the camel's poor reputation, these juvenile camels were quite docile and seemed to enjoy being fed and pet.
The adult camel, on the other hand, did not appreciate being ignored and decided to use Shiloh's skirt as a hanky when it blew it's nose. Needless to say, this camel did not receive as much attention as the other animals!

The zoo brochure shows a picture of and advertises riding an elephant. Unfortunately, the day of our visit they were not doing rides, so we had to settle for a group photo instead.

I think this particular buck in the fallow deer pen could sense I was less than a month away from my annual hunting trip to my parents' farm. He didn't mind the kids trying to feed him, but when I got close, he tried to gut me through the fence with his rather large rack. I could certainly understand his anxiety as I was day dreaming about monster, multi-point racks. Then again, his species is native to Europe, and while he may have been able to strut and posture while behind the fence, were the fence removed he would have had to raise a white flag and surrender (ah, fond memories of our time living in the UK where they fondly refer to the French as the cheese eating surrender monkeys...) . This also reminds me of my "successful" hunt three years ago when I returned home with a 7-point rack. The kids were excited to see it, but when I showed it to them, one of them responded with, "it's not very big, Daddy..." What do kids know anyway, right?! Man, it still smarts a little after all these years...

It's a good thing I had that bottle of hand sanitizer after we feed the giraffe. Do you have any idea how big their tongues are?!?

This particular llama had issues with "personal space." Thankfully, in spite of its size and need for instant gratification (i.e., "FEED ME."), the llama was quite gentle and content to be pet.

The miniature donkeys were pretty much the most docile of all the animals. I briefly thought about sticking one of them in the back of the van. I really hate mowing our half acre with a push mower, and this guy would have a great life tethered in our front yard! To cap off the first leg of the day, we had a nice picnic lunch in front of the Bengal tiger exhibit. You can barely see the tigers because they were a pretty lazy lot. There are three of them, and they spent the entire time we were at the zoo sleeping - two of them on their backs!

PART II

Our next stop was Lexington, home of The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) as well as the historic house of General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (United States Military Academy Class of 1846 and the man for whom our Jackson is named); this was his home when he taught at VMI.

We parked next to the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery on Main Street and walked down to the end of the Downtown Central Business District (a registered national landmark) and back, enjoying the beautiful Fall weather. Unfortunately, the way back was all up hill and the Fall weather was more like Summer with the sun beating down on us, but the children were troopers. Halfway down the street is the County Courthouse, and I could not resist taking a picture of the kids on the old piece of towed artillery.

When we got back to our starting point, we wandered around the cemetery, reading the old headstones. The girls were particularly taken be the number of ladies named Elsie since we've been reading the 19th century Elsie Dinsmore series for some time now. At Stonewall Jackson's burial site the girls were aghast seeing the lemons someone had thrown at the foot of his statue. I then explained to them that this was actually a sign of respect. During the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846-48, Jackson was introduced to citrus fruits and acquired a taste for them that remained with him the rest of his life.

After the museum we then headed over to VMI (the nation's first state-supported military college dating to November 11, 1839) to get a parking space and good seats to watch the cadets' Friday dress parade. It turned out to be Parents' Weekend, so there were a lot of folks watching the parade. We sat next to a gentlemen who was a graduate who explained some of the things we saw. He, along with his son, was there to see his grandson who is a first year student and member of the Rat Line. There were several things they do differently than we did (do) at West Point. The first thing you notice is that their Rats (what we call Plebes) are not integrated into the Corps of Cadets but are part of their own battalion during the first year; they aren't even allowed to wear the shako "hat" (we called it a "tar bucket") or the full dress coat (you can see this in the picture below; the cadets on the far right of each line are upperclassmen).

The next thing you notice is the Brigade Band which is made up of Cadets (at West Point, the "Hell Cats" are all active duty soldiers), and even better, they have a Pipes and Drums Corps as part of the band. It really added to the pomp and circumstance of the parade. The final difference I appreciated the most was the entire Corps fixing bayonets on the parade field; I was quite impressed watching them. My pride in my alma mater was restored, however, when I noticed that at VMI they did not have the courage to attempt the wheeling maneuvers we did at USMA. Ah, the not so fond memories of the multiple passes and reviews on Drill Days ... The kids thoroughly enjoyed watching the parade, and we all agreed we'd have to go back and see another one and definitely bring mommy with us. I know Casey too has fond memories of Drill and Ceremony at West Point. After all, unlike her husband, Casey had the added bonus of having to walk area tours a couple of weekends for missing class. Area tours were (are still?) USMA's way of taking away the only thing you already didn't have enough of - time. She got to parade around in Dress Gray under arms for 10 hours over two weekends. Did I mention I never walked any area tours? Oh, yeah, I did, didn't I.

We capped off the day with dinner out. And where do you think we went? Why Cracker Barrel of course; where else?! It was even Friday night fish fry, so I got to have fish and chips (it's not like Barney's Plaice - get it, "Plaice?" - back in Huntingdon, England, but it'll do). I think we cleaned the place out of popcorn shrimp and lemonade. Shiloh and Adah got to have their cornbread, so all was right in the world.

It's not often that Casey's away, and I have all the kids to myself. Believe it or not, I didn't have to use the entire bottle of hand sanitizer, and no one (including me) had to use the extra change of clothes we brought. We're all looking forward to Mommy's next outing with the ladies to see what kind of road trip Daddy can put together. Until then ....

-Daniel