We had driven from Dubuque on Sunday and so spent the first part of Monday exploring outside. Grandpa's blackberries were ripe, so Marie (and the rest of us) got to help pick them. Marie didn't eat too many, but Joey evidently really liked them. That would only be the first time he would surprise us this week. Joey was also able to find and pick a pretty good sized cucumber from the garden.
We had also hoped to make a visit to the farm while we were there and it turned out that Monday was the best day to do that. At around the end of milking time, we headed over there. We had also gone last year with Marie, but Joey wasn't old enough to know what was going on at that time and quite frankly Marie wasn't too sure of things either.
Cousin Ryan was again a great tour guide. Marie, Joey, and Jon got to watch as Ryan and Uncle Rick finished up the milking. After that, Marie was quite content to head in the house and talk with the ladies. Joey on the other hand was quite enthralled with cows. He walked right up to the fence with Ryan to check out the steers. He even put one foot up on a low rung like a true farmer. He didn't have to be coaxed to pet the calf or even the bigger cows and didn't even mind too much when he got licked. He especially liked feeding the steers hay. He would hold out a piece to them, but would often need someone with longer arms to help him because the steers were more afraid of him than he was of the steers. Once they finally took the hay, he would march right back over to the manger to get another piece. A farmer's work is never done!
Through the night on Tuesday, more than 3" of rain fell. This made things rather wet outside. Since we hadn't brought the kids boots, we had to make a run to the store just so that they wouldn't be cooped up inside all day long. Marie and Joey both thought they were pretty special to get new boots!
With the new boots, it was time to go fishing! This time they had poles just their size and they had a great time just practicing casting in the yard. Once we moved to the pond, it didn't take long before they started catching fish. I think Marie caught three fish in all, though she didn't really want anything to do with them. Joey on the other hand wanted to scoop them up in the net and pet them. Again...no fear. "Joey" also caught a fish. Grandpa was "helping" him and it turned out that Jon had to help Grandpa finally bring it in since the fish was almost as big as the pole!
On Wednesday afternoon, we loaded the kids in the car again and drove to St. Louis to see my grandpa. He has been a bit under the weather this year, but I really believe he perked up and was glad to see us and the kids. He got a kick out of just watching them run around his house. We took him out to eat for supper and made it back in time to watch the Cardinals on TV...a favorite pastime of his.
The following day, we donned our Cardinals gear and planned to meet Grandpa Meinhart, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Mark, and Uncle Matt at the ballpark for an afternoon game. The kids were very excited about the prospect of seeing Albert and just as much looking forward to riding the train to get there. The view from our seats was pretty good, though I could've asked for a little more cloud cover. It got up to 95 degrees...I don't even want to know what the heat index was. But, the kids did really well...I was probably more cranky than they were. Too bad we couldn't have cheered the Cards on to a win!
We drove back to Grandpa and Grandma's house that night to get some rest and wait for Uncle Dave and Itaxso to drive down from Chicago. It had been some time (almost a year?) since we were all in the same place. We all went to the wedding and otherwise spent the weekend just hanging out and visiting. Sunday came around all too quickly and we made the trek back to Michigan. Overall the kids did very well in the car. It is so nice to have good travelers. It was a tiring, but fun-filled trip...and we'd do it all over again if we had the chance!
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