Vacation in Indiana, Part 3: At the Farm

I stayed in Indiana for several days after Dale left, and every day was full of fun activities (including an Indians baseball game, dinner/pool party, and time spent talking to my family). But the time that really stands out was our trip to my dad's farm. Rachel Murphy drove over from Ohio with her 8-year-old niece, Farrel, and Bill's twelve-year-old son, Billy, was visiting. So, Rachel and I took Billy, Farrel, and Adelaida down to the farm for two days. Michael and Sami met us there, and my dad had lots of kid-friendly activities that we could help him with. We took lots of pictures, so I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves here.

Adelaida, Rachel, Farrel, Billy, and Marie pose in the hay barn.


Billy and Adelaida admired the new 848 tractor.


Billy and Farrel helped my dad drive the tractor. We made Billy hold on while the tractor was in motion :)


Michael picked up tackle on the way over and broke out the fishing poles for Billy and Farrel to fish. The lake was well stocked -- Farrel and Billy were catching fish faster than Michael could bait their hooks!


Adelaida sat on her Grandma Mary Jo's lap for the hay ride...


...and had a lot of fun with her Grandpa Steve at the bonfire!


I got a picture of Rachel, Farrel, Billy, and Adelaida sitting together on a bench in front of the lake.


Farrel had an eagle-eye for tiny toads. Both she and Billy are holding toads in their hands -- Farrel has her hands cupped so that her frog wouldn't escape, but you can see the tiny toad in Billy's open hand. They were really very small! The toads became pets on the walk around the lake, so of course we had to name them. Billy and Farrel named their toads Frogger and Hops, then both wanted to name my toad. Together, they settled on "Sir Tony Sanchez Toadman" for my toad. We were really proud of Farrel for holding her toad, as she had declared before we went to the farm that bugs (and other farm- and woodland-creatures) were disgusting and that she would never touch such an animal. In addition to holding her toad, she also held several of the dozen or so fish she caught!


Before we left the farm, we gave Billy and Farrel the opportunity to request one more farm activity. They chose to return to the hay barn, where we had gone when we first arrived at the farm. They wanted to play in the straw bales again before leaving. It was impressive to see the change in Farrel in just 24 hours: she went from being very timid and not wanting to be on anything high to a fearless girl who could climb to the top of the highest straw-bale tower.


We had a great time at the farm and I look forward to the day when Adelaida is old enough to enjoy more of the farm activities.