Hauling

Back during wheat harvest, the Farmers decided to use a traditional wheat header when harvesting 40 acres of our wheat. This allowed them to drop the straw behind the combine in windrows for baling later. Well that was easier said than done because our baler required the patience of Job and holding your tongue just right and 5,000 prayers and whatever else to work correctly. Sheesh, what a headache for the guys! So, eventually a different baler was brought in and fifty-some bales later that job was all but complete. The only task left was hauling them home! Noah and Ben took the tractor and trailers out to the field and Levi and I followed on bike.

 

 It looks so easy, almost like the bale is a light-weight object. That's the dangerous part. Levi didn't understand why I wouldn't let him climb on the bales or stand close when Ben was unloading a bale onto the trailer.

 Our bales look a bit rag-tag, just a reminder of the different solutions tried to complete the baling process.

 Empty field:

Axle came out to the field with us. He's acting like such an old dog these days, I worried about him being out in the heat trying to keep up with us. Yes, he's slowed down enough that he can't keep up with us when we ride our bikes. Kinda sad. 

 Last one:

 And off they go...

 Down the dirt road...

 To their resting spot in the back of the farm.

Job (finally) complete.

Baseball wrap-up

Noah's summer baseball season wrapped up this past week. They played nine games (one was cancelled due to rain, which would have made an even ten games). His team was made up of 1st and 2nd graders. They seemed to have a good time together. 

 Noah really enjoyed playing baseball. He caught on pretty easily, was a reliable batter and held his own out in the field.

 Levi was a good sport, being dragged to the games and practices. Usually there were some friends for him to play with. On Thursday he was still sporting his Mohawk.

 Noah's last game wasn't his best game and that was hard for him. The game before he hit two home runs, got to play catcher (something he'd been hoping to have a chance to do) and made some good catches in the outfield.

 But Thursday he had to wait through an entire inning for it to be his turn to do anything. That's just how it worked out. The coaches do their best to rotate the kids around the outfield, infield and batting order to keep things fair. On Thursday, the visiting team batted first and it was Noah's turn to sit in the dugout instead of playing in the outfield. Then later in that inning he was at the bottom of the batting list, and it didn't work out for him to have his turn.

 So when it was finally his turn, he swung four times (you get four pitches no matter what in coach pitch) and struck out. He'd never done that all season. My heart hurt for him because I knew that was going to be a big ball of pride to swallow.  He played at first base later on and that didn't go very well. Then at his next up to bat he hit a pop fly and the other team actually caught it.

 The last game was different because two of the coaches were missing (Kirby and Ben) and several of the boys were also gone. Thanks Steve, Brian, Kirby and Ben for coaching the boys this year.

 Noah managed to look pretty happy for these photos, but after this was all done I told him "Good game," and he broke down quietly crying. He was so frustrated and upset at how poorly the game had gone.

 We quietly talked it through and he pulled it together. By the time we left to go eat our "end-of-baseball-season" celebratory supper at the Branding Iron he was over it.

 Good job this summer boys!

Swimming

Swimming lessons - a staple of summertime. I'm glad to say we've completed ours for the summer. It's just one more thing to check off the list of parental responsibilities. 

 The boys loved taking swimming lessons. They think it's all fun and games, but they're truly learning a lot. In addition to the basic swimming moves, they're also learning to trust themselves in the water, what their boundaries are and just how much power their little muscles possess.

 Ashlee Pauls did a great job teaching the boys.

Noah doesn't like diving (I can't blame him, I've always hated diving) and it was interesting to watch him try. He often went in crooked and almost never got his feet up high enough to ensure a clean dive. He looked timid. I felt like I was watching my timid-self from way back trying to learn to dive.

 Levi improved a lot during his swimming lessons. He's quite confident in the water - unless he can't touch the bottom of the pool. If he can't touch he freaks out. I don't quite understand why because he'll dive underwater to retrieve toys from the bottom of the pool and even tried a hand stand. But he thinks none of that is possible if he can't touch the bottom.

 It's amazing to see them improve, grow and learn.

Swimming lessons: check.

Road Trip to Kingman

The boys and I took a little road trip this week to this lovely farm near Kingman:

to visit our friends (technically the boys are third cousins) Braden & Luke and their mom Kara! That third cousin bit was hard for the boys to make sense of. :-)

We had a great time discovering all sorts of things at Kara's parents' farm. The train room was a huge hit.

 Kara's dad has put together quite a wonderland of train and farm fun in this room. The boys had a great time making the trains go. We had to be careful with the trains to make sure nothing was broken, but the farm equipment was just as much fun.

 Luke got tangled up in a shed, but thankfully the bigger boys could help him out of it.

 The only bad thing was that it was hot! So, after a little while we decided to check out the toys INSIDE the house.

 It was great to catch up with Kara again - it'd been too long since our last visit. We were interrupted a lot by the commotion of the boys, but not because they were fighting. They played together really well.

 Back  outside we got to explore some more buildings and check out the different tractors, trucks and hay bales we could find.

  They have a LOVELY bed and breakfast on their farm. They converted an old dairy barn into a three bedroom B&B. It's hard to believe it was a dairy barn when you're inside it. But from the outside you can more easily imagine it based on where some windows are located, etc. They did such a nice job and it's all so new yet comfy and cozy too.

 It was so good to see where my friend grew up and where they stay when they come to Kansas now. We have hopes of making a visit to their house in Nebraska this fall - we'll see how the timing works out this year.

Such cute and ornery boys. It's hard to believe that both Levi and Braden will start kindergarten next month! 

4th of July

The day after harvest ended proved to be a very slow day around the farm. Life had been moving at a quicker than normal pace for twelve days and then suddenly back to usual.

 It was a welcome change, and gave the boys a chance to play on the farm instead of being distracted by the possibility of riding in a combine, truck or tractor.

 They had a ton of fun with the sprinkler hitting the slide. They spent most of their energy on NOT getting wet, but that's pretty typical for them - that well water is COLD!

 In the evening, we went over to my cousin's place. Their little Delaney is quite the hostess! She was eager to share, show and make sure everyone was doing OK - even her kittens.

 The boys love to be at their farm, play with their toys, bikes and especially

the Gator!

 We had a small collection of fireworks that the guys and older boys worked on setting off. So far, Noah and Levi haven't shown much interest in fireworks. I've got no complaints about that! We didn't buy any this year and it was nice to not worry about them burning themselves or blowing themselves up. I'm sure it's coming, but I'm thankful I didn't have to deal with it this year.

 Sparklers were fun for Noah.

 And while Levi was quite tentative at first,

 he loosened up (a little) eventually.

 As it was getting dark, we decided to take off for McPherson to see the show they put on.

 It turned out to be a delightful and low-key holiday. Good food, good people, good fireworks.