Farm Pictures

Anna and I went to a birthday party way out of town Saturday. It was a gorgeous day, and I took lots of pictures. The kids happily fed, brushed, and held animals all afternoon.

 They started by feeding the goats. There were cute little signs like this everywhere.

 We were at the donkey/cow enclosure for a long time. One of the girls dropped her ring while feeding a donkey, so the kids kept looking for something shiny in the hay long after the ring had likely settled into a farm animal's stomach.

 Here's the rabbit hutch and the chicken/duck/geese coop. There were guinea pigs in with the rabbits, and the kids spent lots and lots of time in here--maybe forty-five minutes.

 Anna with one guinea pig.

 Anna with two guinea pigs.

 Feeding the geese and ducks.

 No translation needed.

Justin's basketball match on Saturday--final score eighty something to twenty something. Justin's team had the twenty something score. The other team had twelve kids, one of whom was, according to Justin, a two meter giant. This could be a slight exaggeration since two meters is six foot six. Justin's team had six kids. And no giants. 

A Day at the Farm

Our best day in Ireland was a day at a farm. We weren't so sure when we arrived how it would go. The weather was cold and rainy, and the only other family waiting for Family Day to start didn't look too enthusiastic. As three o'clock approached, other families arrived, fairly cheerful and equipped with wellington boots and old clothes. We felt a little out of place with our tennis shoes, but were soon sent off to the barn to choose boots of our own.

It took a while to find a pair for Anna.  She wasn't happy about the fit and of course wanted a pink pair.  We eventually found some, but she didn't like them.  I put my right foot into a pair that looked about my size, only to pull it out wet and covered in bog mud.  Ick.  This did not bode well.  I was already cold, which is just a strange sensation to have in August, and now I was to traipse around a farm for three hours with a soggy foot.  The things we do for our children...

It was decided that we would head over to try pig catching first.  The young guide took the wrong way around, which, unfortunately, led us by a very dead sheep lying in the mud.    I told Anna that the sheep was just sick, and she bought it.  Whew.  I mentioned the dead sheep days later to Scott.  He hadn't even noticed.  He and Justin must have been too focused on the pig catching ahead.  In the picture the dead sheep is behind the living one, in the shed.

Several kids got in the pig pen and quickly showed us all that no one would be catching a piglet. The mama pig was remarkably calm, but nonetheless, stood her ground.  We all laughed really hard.

To be continued...