A Visit to the Farm

Over this past weekend the kids and I, along with my mom and sister Christina, took a trip up to northwestern Iowa to visit my grandma, aunt and uncle, and cousin and his wife and kids. While we were there we went to visit the farm my cousin John lives on and runs- the same farm his father and his father's father farmed. We were only there for a couple hours, but it was a fun-packed couple hours! We got to:

* see a couple barn kittens- Whitey and Pumpkin
* play with Billy, their boxer/black lab mix (Catie LOVED him!)
* watch Uncle John and Cousin John and Cousin Collin cleaning 50 bass that Collin and Big John caught that morning
* see and sit in the GIGANTIC tractor in the barn (Aunt Tina has pictures...hopefully she'll send them tomorrow!)
* ride in and drive a golf cart out to their pond (Will did this)
* ride on a 4-wheeler back to the house (Christina did this...and fell off the back!)
* go fishing for the first time ever (Will and Catie) and catch a bluegill (Will)! (Cousin John offered to let Will kiss his first fish- Will declined.)

And on our way home this morning, Will and Catie got to experience another first- a car accident! We were driving through a small town at about 35 mph when I saw an oncoming car turning right in front of me. I slammed on my breaks and honked the horn and pulled right into a parking lot, but was unable to avoid colliding with the other car. The driver was an 86-year-old woman who said she was paying attention to someone else pulling out instead of oncoming traffic. Everyone was fine and the car we were driving, Tom and Jean's Caravan, suffered only minor damage (we think!). The other driver's car had some pretty major front-end damage. She made mention that her insurance company "always sends her right to so-and-so body shop" which makes me wonder how often this happens!

And although we had a very nice visit, it's always nice to be home. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed tonight!