Apple Pick'n

Our friends Amy Dance and her son Zeke!

I have a friend from Virginia whose husband has gone to Iraq for about 6 months. She decided while he was gone she would bring her 3 boys to Blackfoot and stay with her parents. Lucky for us, Blackfoot is only about 30 minutes away. It's been fun having her nearby even though we've only seen each other twice, still I like having a little of the good parts of my Virginia life here (and I enjoy Amy as well.)

Ben with the apple picker. This is as close as he got to picking apples.
Hannah helping to pick apples. She liked getting the low ones and picked quite a few.

Hannah and Grace eat'n apples.

Amy's parents live on a farm and they have a small orchard full of apples, peaches and plums. There was too much fruit for them to use so she invited our family to come pick apples. I thought the kids would enjoy picking the apples, at least for a little while, but Ben and Sarah walked through the orchard and straight to the farm with Amy's boys. Oh well, they still had fun. Hannah was a great apple picker and Gracie sat in the stroller, good, for the most part. We got a ton of apples, a few pears and some plums. So many apples I don't know what to do with them. Hey if you know how to can and would like to come show me I'll give you a bunch of apples! :)

Hannah with a cat.

After apple picking we had a tour of the farm. We found the big kids by the barn with the kitty's. As soon as Hannah saw the kitty's she was stuck to them like glue. She was always holding one sometimes more or chasing them. She loved them right up until just before we left when one hooked her under the eye with it's claw and wouldn't let go. It didn't cut her very much, but it did scare her a lot. After that she was all done and was not happy with the kitty's.

In the meantime, the kids got to see how cows are milked (scientist Sarah Kate found this to be really cool) they got to see the pigs and the calves, Ben climbed to the top of the barn and Sarah let a calf suck on her fingers. To end the evening Ben and Sarah were able to feed the baby calves with a big bottle. It was a great day at the farm. I remember as a kid thinking my uncle's dairy farm was so cool and I'm sure my kids felt the same way about this farm. Thanks Amy!

Holding a cat and looking at a calf. How fun!

Sarah Kate let the calf suck her finger. It's slimy and yucky, but we were impressed she did it. This picture was taken a little bit late, but if you look close you can see the slime chain from the calfs mouth to Sarah's fingers.

Ben feeding the calf (notice Hannah has a kitty in her arms.)

Sarah feeding a calf.