Farm Life

This past weekend we traveled to The Harber Farm in Salem, Arkansas. Duane's uncle Harley and aunt Gail own a farm in rural Arkansas. What an escape for us! We really enjoyed ourselves and the girls had a lot of new experiences.

Thursday night this mare gave birth to her little foal. The girls had a great time watching the little foal walk around with her momma. The mare was really protective of her baby. We were amazed at how well the little horse did for being just a few days old. By the end of the weekend, she was running with her mother!

The girls spent a few afternoons playing in the creek that runs through the farm. Another family joined us with their 4 daughters and the girls all had a great time together.

Duane and I shared our own time together in the creek. We experienced kayaking for the first time. We faired pretty well the first time. When we went to put the kayaks out the second day, Duane shared a story with me that he had promised he wouldn't share in front of the girls. The day before, Duane's Uncle Harley and his friend Paul walked up to the front porch and a 5 foot snake greeted them. They quickly killed it with a shovel before any of the girls saw it! Great timing Duane! I entered the water freaked out that I would see a snake. I will say that I let all inhibitions die though. I learned to relieve myself along the bank. I think that I really surprised Duane. It was a long walk back up to the house and I really needed to go, so I did. He looked at me and said, "I cannot believe that I have waited 8 years for this moment!" Ah, the great outdoors.

As Duane put his kayak in the water the second day, I looked around to see him plop right out of it! We were just commenting how much more at ease we felt this time since we knew the river better! How funny, poor thing he rode the rest of the way down the river in wet clothes! I on the other hand found a low lying tree that I decided to put my kayak in! We just cracked up at our pride!

On Sunday, Uncle Harley and Aunt Gail surprised the girls by asking some of their friends to bring their horses to the farm so the girls could ride them. They were beside themselves with excitement!

Here Jena is standing next to one of the horses. Jena loved the horses. She was upset that she couldn't ride on her own, but she enjoyed the time she was led around! Duane and I were really surprised by Paige's excitement too. Usually she is a bit more reluctant but she did not want to be left out of this excitement. While the girls were riding the horses, Annie was enjoying the carrots that were for the horses!

She chewed on this carrot for over a half hour and was really bent when we took it away from her. Later we realized that it was great for her teething! I am sure that the horses didn't mind a little baby slobber!

Not only did Annie check out the carrots, she enjoyed checking out Momma too. I wonder what she was thinking. (Gail surprised us with this photo!)

After Paige had some time on the horses, she decided that she wanted to help Uncle Harley water the trees on the farm. So she followed him to his truck and helped him for the better part of an hour water the trees. Harley nicknamed her "Indian Princess." I think she secretly loved the attention!

We are grateful for the long weekend away! We always enjoy ourselves with Harley and Gail and it is pretty special to share these experiences with the girls! I think that they also enjoyed themselves too!