day after Thanksgiving - part one

Day after Thanksgiving was a little overcast with some intermittent rain, but we went back to the barn area to see if any calves had been born as they were expected.  Lydia was not pleased to be near the cows, took time to explain her position, and was not first in line to get near the fence to see the cows.  (See below)

We did get to see a new born calf behind the barn, startling its mother, and sending both into the pasture, with newborn struggling to walk with that awkward stumbling gait of newborn calfs.  the children thought he was so cute.  I did too.  In the picture below the calf is lying down next to the far cow in the upper left.  She will not come much closer than that nor will she let us much closer.  Now the other cows, they are curious.

Julianna was fascinated and stood and watched listening to their low mowing and snorting, not concerned after our earlier visits and awareness of the fence and the cows interest and similar concerns towards us.

with my invitation to try to pet the cow, as one cow in particular got close, she surprised me and did after I showed her how the cow was just looking for a scratch.

later we went into the barns and saw Great Granddaddy's old tractor and the one I particularly like to drive when working at the farm.

Of course we had to try out sitting in the seat.  It was a little large for little people

And old trailers are fun to climb on until spider webs are noticed

all in all a farm and a barn is a good place to visit the day after Thanksgiving with grandchildren.

Day after Thanksgiving - part Two

Another activity on the day after was that I taught Julianna how to play "Go Fish" using a real deck of cards.  Of course she had not played Go Fish with any deck of cards but she is my granddaughter so the teaching was easy and Lydia will know within a month or two as well.

As best as I could remember the rules, asking your opponent for a specific card by number resulted in either getting the card from your opponent or drawing said card from the deck in order to make a pair which could then be scored or laid down.  Of course not getting a card from your opponent your opponent says "GO FISH "  hence the name -- clever huh ?  (upon checking official rules later on the internet I learned that the internet has it wrong- but that is something to be corrected at a later date).

we had a challenging game for me and Julianna, especially since she had a little difficulty telling 6s and 9s apart and did not know what the 8 was at the beginning of the game and the queen was the "q", but we got there just fine and by the end, she had them like a charm.

Now Lydia will recognize a two in a moment, and an A.  Also she will tell you that you have one of said cards.  She has a little more to learn.  But teaching will be fun.  They learn fast and will know the rules too.

and in on the way north and east to Raleigh you know where we stopped for dinner.  As below yours truly and Isaac are under the famous sign outside the blue awninged architectural wonder that is the Blue Mist

First order of the evening was to introduce the kids to some really good hushpuppies and proper eating techniques  The importance of savoring that first bite and enjoying that taste was instilled.

You know who was enthusiastic

and studious -- and watching the other customers watching us.  Now why would all those men wearing hats while inside and while eating be doing that ?

and my goodness but BBQ plates all around with the standard "fixins" of fries, beans and slaw, sure make for a great dinner with some really sweat tea (or milk) to wash it down with.

Thanksgiving part one

Day before Thanksgiving has many responsibilities, one of which is to get non-esentials out of the house for a while, and guess who qualifies, -- that would be me -- so the kids took me to see the cows at the farm, which I always enjoy,

and then I got to walk in the pastures and alongside the old barns. -- main thing I was doing in retrospect was being "not-in-the-way

now later in the day we got down to serious business of cooking and these three went at cookie making like they knew what they were doing.

the whole crowd posed for a photo picking up one of the crumb chasers.

and there was some serious tasting of the preparations going on too.

At times, the work turned serious as the finer points of making molasses cookies were being discussed.

pots had to be found

games on iPhones had to be played - and even - shudder to mention the word, but shared too.

and more preparation, like table setting

we only had three tables set up.  and guess who got to sit at the kids table ? and also please note who was paying attention too.  Thank you Julianna.

and after dinner it was time for Patt to provide instruction in spades.  Those hours of internet work finally pays off in a big way.  Take 'em to school Patt.

PART TWO 

CONTINUES BELOW

Thanksgiving part two

and what Thanksgiving day does not have parade watching, the football watching was done later by me when someone we all know and love also fell asleep.  Seems as if the house was quiet as fortunately a large segment of the household had gone for a walk and I sacrificed and stayed back with Grandmother Hodges and we watched a little football.

and here is Great Grandmother with here great grandchildren

and late on Thanksgiving day, out come lights, as in Christmas tree lights.

clusters of decorations to hang on the tree, heights to climb and decorate, and much much discussion.

and my goodness, but you would not imaging just how pretty these decorations are, just ask, if you need to know.

help was from all angles

and involved, questions such as " what does this cord match ?"

and unattended children quickly returned to the tree for adjustments to the decorations

bedtime stories, followed by the older cousins finishing up some of the decorating.

a very very wonderful Thanksgiving for which we are so very very Thankful.

the day at the zoo

This is the crowd that went to the zoo yesterday.  Beautiful partly cloudy, warm fall day - perfect for going to the zoo.  And the week of a holiday meant that school groups were not in attendance either so it was not crowded and very easy to see what we wanted to see.

We saw giraffes, moving around their pasture which they shared with zebras and ostriches.

we saw lowland gorillas up very close as they were having their mid afternoon dinner.

Sea lions will flat out startle you as they come rapidly swimming out of the corner of their pool.

and in the bird house, the girls posed for their mom, as another couple, modeling Kate's gifts for her parents went by.   Yes, spoiler alert, Kate shared that she is getting her parents Amish clothing for Christmas.  She had seen these outfits before while traveling her in the US and thought her parents would love them, especially the "hat for Charles" said Kate.

Meanwhile, Lydia and I enjoyed the zebras - now that will give you something to talk about too.

or something to show your Dad, and GrandDad who happens to be taking your picture.

Lydia, looking at the birds in the Aviary, and the parrots were talking and screeching too.

a rather rough bunch to have to meet on the trail

especially when these two find a bronze lioness to climb on and practice our roars on.

and speaking or roaring, you should have heard me when I learned that Kate had actually been cutting classes.  Like she cut one to come to the zoo. She just blew off class like it was nothing.  Who ever heard of such a thing- is what I want to know.  Can you believe it?  Cut a class, just did it.  and it was in international relations too.  Like the world does not need students learning about how to solve our problems.

like the problem of tired people at the zoo.  try carrying children all over the place, you will get tired too.

but we sure would do it again. -- it was absolutely wonderful.