We visited Northern Indiana first so that we'd be able to attend the Grand Opening of my parent's new office that week. I took the girls apple picking on Friday and pumpkin picking on Sunday.
On Saturday my grandparents had a Plow Day on their farm. Upon telling one of my friends that I attended my grandpa's plow day while at home, they said, "Oh how nice! So everyone gets together to help him plow his field?" After attending plow day, I'd say that it's not so much about plowing the field, but more about the antique tractors that have been lovingly restored and maintained by collectors. It was interesting to see the farm equipment of yesteryear. How lone farmers chugged along, bouncing on hard metal seats out in big fields under an even bigger sky on their little tractors; plows ripping through the soil and turning under crop residue after harvest. This is especially impressive to me when compared to today's mammoth farm machinery that can tackle an area the width of my living room and kitchen combined in an easy sweep. There may even be a day in my lifetime when the modern farmer doesn't even sit behind the wheel. He'll just program a computer and GPS will guide machinery up and down the rows of crop stubble. Plow day means that farmers bring their antique tractors and plows to a field and people come from miles around to admire them and bask in the nostalgia. And then there's food. A big lunch served at the mid-day break. The kids had a blast watching the tractors, climbing aboard and pretending to drive, racing pedal tractors in my grandpa's shop and cruising the event in a golf cart. I helped my grandma prepare for the day, but I didn't expect for it to be fun. I was pleasantly surprised.
On my final night up at my parent's I sent Ava and Riley out to the pole building to play with grandpa and kept Emily and Hudson inside with me while I packed. They are just 6 months apart and finally at an age that they play really well together. They made me laugh all night, communicating with one another in toddler speak. I brought them upstairs as I folded the last of our clothes into a suitcase. To give them room to play, I opened the door across the hall from the room where I was working (the nursery). I closed all other doors...bathroom, master bedroom. Those two are mischevous! As I folded, I heard loud flushing noises followed by helpless giggling. This occurred a few more times before I decided to investigate. I crossed the hallway to find the two cousins sitting in the rocker "reading" a potty training book with sound effect buttons. I'm glad my camera was nearby. I grabbed for it and caught the end of their fun!
On Wednesday we moved on to Mike's parent's, lovingly known to my children as Grandma Pammy and Papa Nick. You will notice an absence of pictures from this portion of my visit. They are all on Mike's mom's camera. I confess, when I made it to my mother and father-in-law's house, I got a little break. While I was home, my parents were busy getting ready for their open house and my sisters (both teachers) were finishing report cards and preparing for parent-teacher conferences. I found myself caring for 3 extra kiddos (my niece and nephews). All that family time was fun, but I was beat! I have a whole new respect for those moms with 5+ children. At my in-law's I had babysitters! Wednesday night I went out to dinner with friends while Ava and Emily played with their cousins under the supervision of Papa Nick and Uncle Dave. On Thursday, my daughters hit a class at the Children's Museum, The Haunted House, and the Zoo Boo with Grandma Pammy, Aunt Stacey, and cousins Nicholas and Tyler. I, on the other hand, met a friend for lunch, picked up Emily for naptime, and met up with everyone again for dinner. On Friday, we were all supposed to make our annual trip to the pumpkin patch, however we got rained out. We went to story time at our favorite children's book store, The Wild in Noblesville, instead. I do have the following pictures from our trip...on Friday night, Mike's whole family gathered for a family portrait and dinner after:
The whole family
The grandkids
Our happy little family
Ava at 5 years
Emily at almost 22 months
On Saturday, Mike and I joined our usual tailgate group, some of my sorority sisters, my dad, and brother in-law on Slayter Hill for my final Purdue Football tailgate party of the season. We topped off the night with Guitar Hero and a couple of rounds of euchre with Mike's sister and her husband at their house. It was a wonderful, busy visit home!
