visiting our friends

One of my long-time friends, Anna, whom I have kind of grown up with through homeschooling and camp, lives near where my parent's live. She and her husband, Wayne,have 4 boys and live in the country and raise poultry, goats, pigs and have a couple calves. They are blessed with an amazingly beautiful yard, perfect for energetic boys to play and run! I am in love with the openess and glorious feeling of solitude out on their homestead when, in our neck of the woods, or should I say, beach, I feel claustrophobic and crowded with the masses of people that inhabit that area.
All that to say, the kids and I were invited to come play and visit them today and we gladly took them up on their offer! We thoroughly enjoyed our time. The kids all got along so well and played together like a dream! Anna's oldest boy, Cole, was so sweet and helpful to Naomi. Anna and I found it so cute how much he seemed to like Naomi. As usual, as we've seen in past playdates with our kids, Anna's 2nd son, Mason, really gets along well with Marcail and they played together the most today. He pushed her on the swings and he got her out a puzzle to do today as well. Henry and Bruce (Anna's 3rd) hit it off nicely but they both seemed to be happy with whatever was going on or doing their own thing. Wyatt is the baby of the family and is so sweet dispositioned. He slept and ate and played and slept again. He was all smiles while he was awake and was a joy to be around. Of course, Anna and I had a great time visiting and chatting. She is so fun to talk to and I think it's safe to say that we both thoroughly enjoy each other's company. She is incredibly hospitable and served us all a yummy lunch, complete with her amazing homemade bread! Thanks, Anna!!

My three loved all the farm animals. They didn't much care for their big chocolate Lab, but otherwise, they did fine. Here, you can see Mason pushing his buddy, Marcail on the far left. Next, Cole is swinging Naomi and Anna is swinging Bruce.

Handsome Bruce


Enjoying the wee chicks

Seeing real, live pigs for the first time!

Marcail wasn't afraid to try to pet the goat!

Toward the end of our visit the big boys tried to play a game with the younger children. It was cute to see them all sit so nicely trying to play a big kid game.

Check out this cutey-pie little Wyatt!

Mason, Anna, Bruce and Wyatt

Anna, I think you look good in this photo so I couldn't help posting it. I just love how those boys look standing around their Mama, so sweet.