Week In The Life 2015 – Tuesday’s Words and Photos

Wondering about the Week in the Life photo/documenting project? You can find more about it in THIS POST.

Tuesday. We were out and about today which means a lot more photos and more stories to tell.

Early morning computer time. It’s a habit and an indulgence I suppose. Time alone with my thoughts while the house is still and I can quietly do my own thing without interruption – something that doesn’t happen often with all these people and dogs in the house, especially during the summer.

Found the boy asleep on the couch when I got up this morning. This isn’t an unusual sight. It isn’t a weekly occurance or anything, but there are plenty of times when he gets restless in the middle of the night and will get up, wander around doing who knows what (I did catch him on the computer at 2AM one night – not good), then fall asleep on the couch or on the recliner upstairs. This one we know, however, is from falling asleep on my lap last night.

She wasn’t ready to get up. I used to worry about letting her out early but she doesn’t seem to mind “sleeping in.” I love that I can be up and doing my thing and not have to worry about her getting fidgety or demanding attention during the early morning hours when I just want to enjoy the peace and quiet.

There we are – all loaded up in the car and off to run errands. I never quite manage to get out the door as soon as I would hope to on days like today, but eventually we are off and running. On the list: drop off drying racks at UPS (see title photo of this week’s orders all loaded into the car)

Then we dropped the car off for an oil change and walked over to get some new cowboy boots for Tyler. He was unusually indecisive this time and had to check out the entire stock at least twice to make sure he hadn’t missed any that were more appealing than the ones he had already tried on. Eventually he narrowed it down to two pairs and went back and forth on those before finally making a decision – not the ones Kaitlyn proclaimed as her favorites (which may have had something to do with his decision, just to be contrary). After purchasing the cowboy boots we went into the bicycle shop next door to pick up a brag tag and got back to pick up the car just as they had finished up. Great timing.

With the most important errands out of the way it was time to start collecting brag tags, as this is the last week for the Unplugged Program this summer. The kids insisted they were starving so we only picked up one or two tags before stopping at the “train restaurant” for lunch and shakes (another brag tag!). I had to laugh when Kate purposely dipped her lips in the whip cream for this photo. The kiddos had corn dogs, with a gummi bear shake for Tyler and peach cobbler shakes for myself and Kaitlyn.

More brag tag pick ups as we worked our way down the road to Walmart for the final school supplies on the list and to make a deposit at the bank. Then – you guessed it – more brag tags! In total we picked up 8 tags and walked away empty handed from 2 other places that had run out of tags.

Dinner and some after-dinner YouTube (or something – I can’t remember what they were looking at) then it was time to get into Farm Mode. Dad had wanted Tyler to help him haul the last of the hay and my intention was to go along for the first little bit and take some photos (I had been meaning to take photos of the hay in the field all month anyway) and assure myself that Tyler was ok on the 4 wheeler and doing what he needed to be doing.

First, of course we had to stop and feed the orphaned baby calf. Tyler named this guy “Mini Hopper” and he and my dad seem to have their own routine down with the calf. Dad does the bottle feeding while Tyler fills his dish with grain.

Then before we got the equipment going we had to stop by the gate so my dad could show Tyler the animal tracks in the mud. “This one was probably from Smokie (the barn cat), but do you know what this one is? A raccoon (that’s the 2nd photo). And these right here are smaller and probably another raccoon. And do these look like a cat or a raccoon?” It’s rare my Dad passes up a teaching moment.

So we get to the haystack at the top of the hill and Dad asks me to follow in the backhoe while he takes the truck and trailer and Tyler drove the 4 wheeler. This was my view. As a mom I was both scared and proud of my little guy for how handy he is – and how fearless.

We spent the time while Dad was loading up the trailer with Tyler alternately posing for photos and driving around on the 4 wheeler, then stopping so I could take more photos. I love it when the kids are into the photo sessions and cooperating. It’s so much fun that way and makes for some great shots. Total photo overload – I’m having a hard time picking my favorites.

Eventually the trailer was all loaded (took longer than I had anticipated) and I once again followed in the backhoe (with it carrying a load of 2 bales too, which limits visibility in front and is pretty tricky to navigate) while our convoy went back to the hay stack. Tyler and I wasted time while Dad was unloading and stacking the hay and eventually got cold as the sun went down. I had just called Sam to meet us at the barn with jackets when Dad told us he wasn’t going to try for another load that night and we may as well just head home. Hmm…that would have been good to know 30 minutes earlier – and also surprising. I can remember my dad used to be so concerned about getting the hay in in a timely manner that he would be out in the field at all hours. I guess age is really catching up with him or he is finally learning to listen to his body because I notice he no longer works the long hours and will take breaks in the middle of the day.