A Day at Twin Oaks

We've reached the point of St. Louis winters where there are random 60 - 80 degree days sandwiched in between the cold, rainy, dreary, and/or snowy days. So we took a Sun Day off of school and spent the day at Grandma's and Grandpa's farm, named Twin Oaks. They have made a ton of progress on the property since the last time we visited. The garage building is mostly finished; there is some work left to do still but it is functional, with a bathroom and a loft apartment above the garage. I totally failed to get pictures of the garage, but you can see some of it behind Gussie zip lining here.

And the kids enjoyed grabbing a snack and lounging on the beds in the apartment.

We spent a lot of time "helping" Grandpa continue to clear the trail through the woods, cutting briars and small trees and moving rocks into a little gulley so the tractor could get over it. It's really nice to be in the woods right now - no bugs and easy to see the kids through the trees!

Michael Jr kept asking Grandpa to find more trees he could saw down.

Of course the trail work required driving both the tractor and the new Mule. Edie doesn't ride on the tractor far but Grampa showed her how to move the bucket up and down and tip it, which she loved.

That's her "pleased as punch" face.

Gussie is all about steering.

Before she even saw the Mule, Catherine was dead set on learning to drive it. The starts and stops and always tricky at first but she did great after a few practice runs! A couple more visits and she'll be ready for solo driving.




As always, there was lots of zip lining and tire swinging and running with Charlie, who discovered it is great fun to chase the kids down the hill while they ride the zip line.

Yes, that's Mary trying to bunny ear her sister's picture, but she was too short.

They thought it was funny.

Charlie's ears and Gussie's hair looked pretty much the same, bouncing along as they ran through the field.

Gussie has been determined for months and months that he doesn't want to cut his hair because he wants to look like a lion. However he recently decided that lions have to spend too much time grooming; he's ready for a haircut now.

Edie will ride the zip line on her own now, but someone still has to help her off at the bottom, especially if Charlie is lying in wait to leap on her when she gets down.

The rocking chairs on the front porch are perfect for relaxing.

We're looking forward to expending a LOT of energy at the farm this year!