Our Trip to See Papa and Nana and the Farm

We had such a blessed time on the farm when we visited Nana and Papa in the hospital at the beginning of June.  It was the most welcome vacation from a year of work and was the best start to summer.  We explored the farm, played outside so much, had fun with water, saw kittens, horses, chickens, lots and lots of bugs and just explored and played like little boys should.  This is the first of many posts to come. 

Owen standing with the poppies in Nana's garden in the morning sun.

We had just beautiful hot humid weather loaded with gnats and flies while on the farm.  I would trade that for this terrible cold rainy weather we're having now.  The boys got to play with the hoses, wash the cars, play in the sprinkler and just have fun in the hot weather.  It couldn't have been better.

 

Owen takes a drink of the water and thinks it's a bit cold.

 

Owen takes a drink of the water from the hose and drips!

 

Owen spits out the water!

 

 

Chase picks up the sprinkler in order to run after Owen.

 

Giving Chase the hose is not always the best of ideas.  He loves to pray people with it!

The nice thing about the farm . . . you just pull your car up on the grass under the shade and wash away. 

 

With a little prompting from Mommy, Chase goes after Nana with the hose.

 

Owen runs from the play house along the path to the house.

Watch out Nana, I'm going to get you!

 

Chasey finds two sticks he is proud of.

 

Run run run!  They had so much fun just running from diamond to diamond.

 

Owen examines a bug on the sidewalk

Chase held up the hose, which allowed the water to fall right on his head!

 

Owen finally gets a chance to play with the hose

 

And luckily there were 2 hoses so there could be a water fight.

 

Pure joy!  Love that smile.

 

Owen laughs with delight. 

 

To cool off Chase takes part in the drinking of the water.

 

Wouldn't you love those abs?

 

Loving the farm and play in the water

 

Oh Chasey!

Look at that laugh caught on film, he loved the sprinkler!

 

Owen slowly goes through the sprinkler

 

Chase looks at his blankies with the binoculars

These pictures are actually from our first day in SD at Avera McKennan hospital.  It was so nice to drive into town and see my Dad right away and he looked great.  Since this time he has gone home and has been there one week.  He is gaining strength each day.

Owen and Nana get a coloring sheet ready.

The boys marched in with their backpacks of fun and destroyed the room.  They were so good though, considering all they could have been into in the hospital room (tubes, machines, etc).  They drove their cars and drew pictures for everyone.

Dad before he had his head shaved.

The shaving of the head (I had permission to put these on the blog)

Owen loo

 

Mom with Dad and his mo-hawk.

 

Not so bad with a bald head!

Of course Dad feels better with his cap-a must have for him.

Chase finds the binoculars and enjoys looking at the world close up.

 

Owen strips down right away and runs around the farm in his undies.

New Hair Dos

Singing (or running) in the Rain

We've had a lot of rain lately.  So, instead of moping about it, we run and play in it! 

 Chase runs in the stream in the street and then heads for the driveway.

 Running from the street to the house . . .

  . . . to tag the wall and run back out.

 After playing in the cold rain we needed hot chocolate, of course.

Owen enjoyed his mug of hot chocolate!

Chase says "mmmm."

Yesterday it rained a lot in the afternoon.  We watched the rain for a bit while sitting on the portico, then we ran in the rain, until the lightening came.  

 It's raining, run!

 Owen runs out of the rain.

 Run Chase Run!

 Chase is holding his head as if that will protect him from the rain. 

 

Post running in the rain.  Messy curly hair is sure cute.

Updates

I've been so lazy, I haven't felt like blogging, but we have had some fun things go on here.

Last week I got my first pretty dandelion from Owen.  He gave it to me with the sweetest look on his face.

The boys' language has really started to explode with new words occurring daily.  My favorite is "oopsie", which is pronounced, "ooosie".  So cute!!  My dad taught them how to say "oofda" when they were at the hospital, very Scandinavian. They also use concept words like "half" and "piece".  It's amazing that they just come out of their mouths without us saying, "Say half".  The boys, Chase especially, have become very good with their numbers as well.  They can identify numbers up to 5 and can say most of them.  They run around counting things, saying, "two blankies," or "fwee grapes."  It's so sweet.  When asked how old he is Chase will now say, "two."  When asked how old he's going to be he says, "fwee."  When asked how old Owen is he says, "Owie".  He thinks you are asking what his name is. :)  We are working on that one.  Chase can show you with his fingers numbers 1-5 on one hand.  Owen will show you using both hands. We are working on showing 2 fingers with one hand.  He's just not as interested in it as Chase is.  They've been doing number for about 1 month now. 

Owen's hair has grown into a mop.  He's a very cute little mop head though, I must admit.  He has a little dent in his forehead from where he fell off the stool.  I wonder if that will go away.

The boys went to daycare today.  I guess they are able to go to the bathroom all on their own  . . . .there.  At home, it's another story.  I'm glad they show more independence at her house at least. 

Mowing the Lawn

Jeff mowed the lawn for the first time this spring (a few weeks ago) and Chase and Owen had to help. 

Owen helps Daddy with the lawn mowing.

Daddy invites Chase over to help him.

Chase pushes the mower.

Daddy tries to keep the lawn mower on course now that he has two helpers!

Around the tree

I love this picture because it shows that Owen's blankey goes everywhere with him!