mud pie

this trip was initiated by emily. one night she asked 'when are we going to nana's again?' i told her we had a trip planned for anneliese's and nana's birthday. she replied with 'i want to go sometime when it's not a birthday'. i thought that was convincing enough to clear the weekend out and take the 3 kids packed in the back of the prius to the ranch house in oklahoma.

on saturday morning, papa was going to check the cows and grant and emily were going to tag along in the truck. as we were throwing on their clothes, grant whispered to me that he wished he had brought his cowboy boots :)

and they were rewarded by a true cowboy adventure. a just born calf stuck in the mud. they watched as papa pulled it out and then the day was filled with taking care of 'mud pie'

even with all the excitement over the calf-we still managed to get a short fishing trip in. the fish were not too eager, but it was a beautiful night. we listened as ryan called for owls and had to call it quits when it was too dark to see where our lines were stuck.

 it is a long-standing tradition to throw big sticks in the river. nana has started a new tradition/experiment of taking bits of food and setting them on the numerous ant hills on the road to the river. it is fascinating to watch them work together. the kids have been working and playing well together too-here is roy's satisfaction upon getting the gate open. it is a true rite of passage. grant and dale had already crawled under and cheered him on-

 this is a bunch of random summer pictures that i never posted. summer was bright and sweet, but we are looking forward to the leaves falling and the cool breezes.