A day in the country...

One of my favorite sayings is: A day in the country is worth a week in town. You'd think that after a decade of suburban living, I'd start to feel differently. But no, driving back to the place where my childhood was spent still invigorates me and I'm so glad that I can share that place with the kids now. I guess one of my mom's favorite sayings is true: You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl.
Here's a peek at our week in 'the mountains'.....

Enjoy!

Driving out...Thank goodness for headphones for the DVD!

Listening to 4 hours of LooneyTunes is enough to drive me nuts!

L gets a push from her big cousin

Grammy keeps the little cousin entertained

Exploring the back field

Uncle J joins in the kiddie pool fun...

then eventually just joins the kiddies in the pool.

After all the hoopla ...

Then it was off to the County Fair. J & L took their first solo rollercoaster ride (L loved it!) Then the 3 of them packed into a ladybug car (more M's speed.)

L met a friendly goat in the animal barns.....and then the Fair Queen! When the Queen asked her if she'd like to be a queen, too, L said, "Yes, very much!"

In the chicken barn, we found a BarredRock rooster, just like my childhood pet, Goofy. J was in his glory in this barn. He had a few hundred chickens, geese and ducks all making noise by the end. I'm shocked we didn't get thrown out!

M found a nice quiet deer fawn to pet....feeding the goats was another favorite activity.

The view in the backseat on the way home...J is holding his light saber that he got from the toy booth. Zonked out.

The next day we went to the lake for lots of fun in the sand & water.

Finally, a visit with my best friend from high school and her family. They not only live 'in the mountains' - they literally live ON a mountain! Such a gorgeous view at sunset. Toward the right, you can see into town.

We managed to get all our kids lined up for a quick photo...2 boys and 1 girl for each of us!

For 6 days, life was a crazy progression of packing/driving/unloading/living out of suitcases/buckling seatbelts 100 times/settling feuds/applying gallons of sunscreen to squirmy arms and legs/applying Afterbite to itchy arms and legs/wiping sticky hands and faces covered in melted FreezePops/finding lost sandals/finding lost stuffed animals/settling more feuds/explaining why we can't eat sand/explaining why we can't throw sand/doing laundry/finding missing socks in said laundry/packing up suitcases/reloading suitcases in the van/driving home/living out of suitcases for a week while we unpack.

But you know what? Those thoughts don't dominate at all. For me, it was 6 days of drinking tea with Mom on the back porch after the kids went to bed/talking with Dad about his latest music passion, the Band in a Box/catching up with my brother and discussing parenting techniques (who would've ever imagined that!)/visiting the sub shop where I worked in high school and eating one of their delicious BLTs/going to the nursing home where Mom works to visit my first Sunday School teacher who is a resident there/watching the kids learn how to catch butterflies/watching the kids play in the same lake I did 30 years ago/laughing with them at animals in the same barns I used to walk through each year at the Fair/sharing funnel cake and hand-squeezed lemonade with them/keeping my oldest friendship kindled and connected.

That's a day in the country for me.