I cannot believe how fast this summer is going by. We have much to share and so little time to do so. I feel like each day goes by so fast and when I have finally finished everything I need to do, I fall into bed and then it starts all over again in the morning. But, I really want to chronicle all of our adventures and share them, so I am really putting forth the effort. So, here we go. I am going to have to do this in a few installments. The first installment is the trip from Kansas to New York and our time on the farm.
Back in the end of May, Kenneth was supposed to leave to go to spend a week and a half on his parents' farm in Upstate New York. He would come home for a day and then leave for Brazil for work for a week and a half. And we were going to stay home. We always go to the farm every year for first cutting. (For those of you not familiar with farm talk that means the first mowing of the hay for the season.) This year, though, when Kenneth was buying the plane tickets shortly after Kate was born and we thought it would just be too difficult to take all of us. (We still had visions of the last time we all flew in our heads.) But, as time got closer we were feeling sad about not being on the farm this year. So, in true Kenneth Larchar family style, 2 days before we were to leave, Kenneth cancelled his flight and we readied to drive all the way to New York. From Kansas. Yeah- it was a long drive. But, it was worth it. Serendipitously, there was a couple moving in to our ward the same time we were leaving who didn't have a place to live yet, so they stayed in our house and took care of the chickens, the lawn and the garden. We had a wonderful time on the farm. When Kenneth left for Brazil, the kids and I traveled around visiting family and then picked him up in Indianapolis and he drove the rest of the way home with us.
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| Dad and kids in front of the Kirtland Temple in Ohio after being cooped up in the car for 24 hours without a real stop |
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| Here we are walking on the temple grounds. I had never been there before and it was very special to me after having read the history of that great place. |
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| Here they are all lined up in the backseat. Watching a movie. This seating arrangement worked great until Grant got cabin fever and started flailing and yelling and otherwise accosting his sisters. |
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| Grandma was so glad to meet Kate and spend some time snuggling her. |
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| Larchar cousins so happy to see each other. |
Good times on the farm. Here is a little taste of what it's like:
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| Lined up to watch the daily cow parade go right by the house. The cows walk back to the pasture from the barn after being milked. |
One day we were hanging out at Kenneth's brother and sister-in-law's house (just 10 minutes from the farm) and there was a fawn left behind by it's mother in the neighbor's lawn. We got to go see it.
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| The neighbor was feeding it some milk. The kids were so excited! |
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| Kisses |
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| It was amazing to be so close to it! |
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| Emma and the fawn |
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| The boys out making hay |
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| More haying pictures. There was lots of rain during our time in NY, so when it was nice, they were to be found in the fields making hay while the sun shone! |
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| Uncle Jason reading the kids stories |
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| Grant and Joslynn playing the the puddles |
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| More puddle fun! |
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| Arianna loves the cats! |
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| The pond out it front of the house. Holy dandilions! |
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| More puddle walking. I wasn't kidding when I said there was a lot of rain! |
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| Beautiful New York |
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| Kenneth and Grant baling the hay |
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| Aunt Karen and Diane and the kids during a visit to see the boys working in the field |
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| I finally got a shot with all four tractors working at the same time! Kenneth, Scott, Dennis and Jason all on different pieces of equipment: mower, rake, baler and wrapper. Pretty cool! |
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| I was up early one morning with Kate and decided to go on an early morning walk with her in the carrier and my camera in hand. I love the morning. Especially on the farm. Geese in the field behind the house. |
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| First rays of sun streaming through the trees. |
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| I love the misty mornings. |
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| The cows with the old hen house in the background |
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| Kate in the exersaucer for the first time. I feel like she really grew up during this visit. She also first started playing with toys on the farm. |
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| We had lots of weather extremes during our visit. Freezing cold to run-in-the-sprinklers-hot! |
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| Oh the views! |
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| The boys and their toys (well, their Dad's toys, to be accurate) |
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| The Brethren |
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| The traditional chicken barbeque. Scott and Brother Wright are flipping the chicken. Yum. |
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| Here is our family (minus Kate, who was napping) in one of the fields on the farm |
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| Visiting the calves |
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| Playing with the barn cats. The kids love them! |
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| Walking to the barn. That is the milk truck coming to collect the milk. |
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| More kitty time. As you can see, it got pretty cold during part of our visit. |
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| Kenneth and Sam, the dog |
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| Emma got to feed the calves with the bottle |
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| Kubota rides with Grandma |
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| The last morning we were on the farm, we got to go out in the field and visit a new calf who was born just that morning. Here we are seeing the mom with her baby |
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| Kenneth and the ladies. Cows really like Kenneth. |
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| Who are you two? |
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| Kenneth's whole family. |
It was such fun to have all the siblings and their parents together.
