Family time in Farr-Landia

That's what the kids call it. Neerlandia is not near-by, so we call is Farr-Landia.

Everything lined up perfectly for a weekend trip up north between the last broiler cycles. We decided to take advantage of the nice weather and time off to see my sis and her family as well as get some R&R - although who were we kidding, that doesn't really happen with energetic and excitable kids around.  What a lot of fun we had!

First stop was only 25 minutes away, in Vauxhall, for gas and to take pictures at the local landmark.  Andy's new goal is to get pictures at all the local landmarks, every town seems to have some sort of symbol or "famous" marking with its name, so I guess from now on we will try stop at most of them when we can!  First one off the list: Vauxhall with its potato men.

Next stop was a small old (German) Lutheran church just off the beaten path, past Hanna.  Its was very well taken care of and we could even go inside.  There was an old graveyard off to the side to intrigue me, and send our conversation into all the "I wonder how, what and when..." of the local history.

We also stopped at an interpretive site by the Diplomat Mines, which celebrates Canada's surface coal mining. It was a very interesting place to stop and the kids did not want to leave again!  The coal surface mines are still being mined around the site, but this park showed some of the machinery they used to use and also how the landscape used to look, displaying an enormous fossilized tree trunk.

Here are slices of the fossilized tree trunk. 

Once at Ben and Ruth-Ann's place we got the fifth wheel ready for our little "camping" trip. The kids thought we were really camping and were on cloud nine about sleeping here.  Yay for small excitements! 

Saturday took us to West Edmonton Mall where Ruth-Ann and I could stock our childrens fall wardrobes and have some much needed retail therapy :) As much as I love the farm life sometimes I crave nothing more then city life, people, big buildings, beautiful designs all around and a change of scenery. This was a good reprieve.  Andy and Ben took the kids first to the aquarium (a dream come true - according to Seth) and then to Galaxyland where they were spoiled with rides on the bumper cars and a roller coaster. 

By supper time we had some pretty ravenous people!  :) :D  :)

...Annnnd, bump pictures of course.  Cousin friends in utero.  Ruth-Ann due middle of December, myself due end of January.

These two charmers kept us smiling all weekend.  Everyone should have a toddler around, just to keep the smiles on a persons face.

 
And before we left we stopped by Pake and Beppe for a coffee Monday morning.  It was a last minutes stop on our part but Pake and Beppe were so gracious and more then willing to make time for us even though they were packing for their own holiday. I can only hope to ever be such a gracious and good host.  I left with a big bag of sweet fresh carrots right out of the garden and the kids all had a little bag of candy. What a blessing to see grandparents so well and busy. 

Of Summer, Swimming, Smiles, Sun and Sand.

Looking back at our summer... here are some highlights.
We did a lot of swimming in the pool, Seth and Tristan have gained so much confidence in the water and are regular little fish, eels, whales, submarines, whatever you want to call them.  Rowan refused to go in without his "jacket" which made him safe in the water and Abby refused to even wear a jacket so she was not allowed in, resulting in an entire summer of her just lazing on the side.   

There's always work when you have a good size property, and the whole family had to pitch in to help with things like watering and mowing.  On a hot day playing with water was fun.

This summer we had strange weather, we had a super long spring but not a very hot summer resulting in less then perfect growing conditions.  Even so we gathered in alot of food from the garden and had fun watching everything grow and produce fruit.  Abby sat by the raspberry bushes and picked fruit at every opportunity while Rowan hacked around with a hoe.  Such good helpers.  Seth and Tristan grew their own gardens and tended to them daily.  Its satisfying to see the kids digging and tending to their own little plots faithfully, they even made me "soep groente" packages for the freezer from their own gardens.  Showers in the evening are that much more satisfying when feet are muddy and necks grubby from the days work.

At the very end of August we finally made it the a beach with friends!  Thankful for friends who also like to quickly "up and go" with our grills and beach toys. 

Abby frequently picked me flowers which was very sweet of her, never mind they were too short to ever do anything with. It's the thought that counts:)

Flash flooding!  A four year olds dream.

And some days... you just need to hit up the library for some R&R.   

Abby and Rowan {unofficial photoshoot}

 These two children can be such incredible monkeys and keep us on our toes but they also bring us so much joy.  I'm so grateful for the developing bond between them and Rowans patience with showing his little sister how to do things and play games.  Abby's almost always willing to go along with Rowans escapades, tent building ideas, blanket sharing snuggles and he also humours her with countless rounds of duplo zoo building events and lets-name-the-animals. 

These precious moments taken unofficially on August 18, 2016, by me while checking on the bunnies and kittens in the intense August heat.

Barn 4 Completion

This is the farm when you are driving towards it from the Township Rd. going east.  As we always say to people asking for directions, "four big white barns and a tiny square house, you can't miss it!"
And yes, we do have four big white barns but only three of them actually had birds in them, till this past August.  The one that is the most w
est (closest to us in this picture) was just a shell, used for hay storage/tractor storage until now.  The time had come for it to be finished. It started out as a winter project for Andy but once the details were figured out and quota in order it actually had to be totally done for the new chicks to to be placed in August.  So that took up most of Andy's summer, tons of phone calls, trips in to Lethbridge (I helped with that where I could - throwing all the kids in the van and picking up parts) and trip after trip to the local Home Hardware for bolts, drills and drill bits. 

This is how it started - insulation and wood strapping for the vapor barrier.

Stapling plastic over the insulation.

Insulating the front room.

Next came sheet metal.

Soon contractors came for the inlets, chimneys, electrical work and heat.

Lower left corner - feed pans in the making. 

Andy did the plumbing and water system himself.  It's amazing how many talents he has once he has time to discover them!

The bins!  It was fairly exciting!

Concrete pads got poured for the new bins and a crane lifted them into place.

Many hours of specialized work got the controls/alarms/heat/ventilation etc. computers working.

Pulleys hung, lights on, feed pans and water lines strung, we were ready for placement!

 All this was a good thing to us to do, having an empty barn does not benefit anyone.  But we sure were tired by the time we were ready to fill it.   Everything takes longer then originally planned resulting in long evenings of work tying up loose ends.  I also helped occasionally holding pulleys and plates in place so Andy could bolt things in place resulting in children in the work area which is not ideal seeing as Tristan wasn't the only one who ended up with stitches.  Abby also fell onto a nail while Rowan was "helping" her onto the trailer behind the truck which Andy and I were unpacking, resulting in a trip to emerg. for some stitches between her lip and nose.  Poor baby.  All three boys were very helpful and enthusiastic to help with assembling all 320 feed pans and clipping the nipples onto the drinking lines.  It was fun for us to see how happy they were with the finished product and to know that they really helped us.   
Andy says that next time (I exclaim "NEXT TIME????") we will not build during the summer to give us some free time to actually enjoy summer and possibly spend a few days away from here.

But for now, we say to you all 

"Please! Enjoy your wonderful Canadian chicken products!

"Thank a Farmer"

and we are

 "Proud to be a Poultry Producer!" 

...while I go and have a coffee.  ;)