Happy Cows

One of the greatest days we have had here was our day at the Happy Cow Creamery, a local dairy farm here in SC. If you know Ward, then you know that he has an obsession with tractors (and fast cars... but more on that later) so he was in pure heaven! It was a beautiful day, there were cows everywhere, Katie Storey came up for a visit from Atlanta, their cousins came along, we saw a baby calf born just hours before our arrival AND the day ended with a milk and ice cream tasting- it doesn't get much better than this!

This farm really is amazing. They use natural, hormone free, "Old timey" farming and pasteurization methods and their milk is not homogenized. Farmer Tom and his family that run the farm believe that these natural farming methods lead to happier cows and therefore better milk production. The USDA agrees and awarded Tom the national winner of the Award for Sustainable Farmer of the Year. We had a great time on the tractor tour of the grazing pastures, learning what kind of music the cows like to listen to while they are milked and seeing their one of a kind bottling factory built inside their silo. Now that they have their cows grazing naturally all year round, they no longer need this giant silo to store hay, so they had it repurposed by an innovative team of engineers as a bottling room! Such a fun day.

Ward face to face with a cow.

Ward loving this.

Checking out the mommy cows (there were 4 pregnant mommy cows up front).

Emerson so cool in her sun hat.

Nana with Emerson and Ward.

Ward and Beckett having a "chat" while on our tractor ride.

Farmer Tom explaining how they keep these cows happy by letting them roam and graze year-round on sweet April grass- they have 12 "Aprils" at this farm by rotating the cows through different pastures.

Emerson in the milking barn learning about how they milk the cows.

Auntie Rachael with Ward, Beckett, Emerson & Oliver- sitting in the wheel of the giant tractor

Ward up close and personal with a real John Deere!

Ward enjoying his homemade chocolate ice cream at the end of the tour.

Katie and Ward sharing a sweet moment.

Ward and Emerson getting some tickles and cuddles from Katie.

Emerson and Katie have a very serious discussion... actually I think they were blowing dandelions, but they did have their fare share of serious conversations during the weekend.

Little Monkies

Our second stop was South Carolina. Emerson didn't waste anytime making plans to get together with her cousin Oliver. I learned from my mistake at Katie's and decided I better have my camera ready to go every time these cute cousins got together. Here are a few pictures from our first week together.
The first time we got together Kylie brought the boys out to Nana & Papa's where we are staying. My kids are so excited to have so much outdoor space to roam. Nana & Papa have a great garden that is perfect for playing. Whether they are in the backyard or at Monkey Joe's indoor play place on a rainy Saturday, these kiddos have a ball together.

Such cute kids...I love this picture.

Monkies on the swingset.


Oliver giving Ward a push.

Emerson was all smiles.

Ward's not-so graceful landing.

Oliver on his way down the big slide.

Aunt Kylie helping Beckett down the slide.

Emerson and Oliver

The boys wrestling at home with Uncle Jake.

Silly faces.

Emerson getting some cuddle time with baby Asher.

1st stop- Memphis, TN

In planning this little last minute trip I was very grateful that we were able to coordinate an entire week in Memphis with my younger sister Katie and her family. Because our family is so spread out, I usually get together with my sisters at my parents' house or on a family vacation so it was a rare treat to visit Kate in her own home. Also, for those of you who don't know Katie, she and her husband Daniel recently bought a beautiful new house and had their second baby girl at Christmas, so it seemed like an ideal time for a visit.
Our first few days were low key to allow us to get over jet lag and we wanted to be schedule free for a little while. We had quiet mornings and lounged around Katie's bedroom letting the kids watch cartoons. My kids were totally overwhelmed by the t.v. and the fact that you could change the channels (our tv is just an empty box that is used to play dvds) and they both decided they like colored Cheerios more than those boring multigrain ones that I usually give them.

We tried to keep things laid back and low key so we went to the park, took walks around the neighborhood, played in Aubrey's fun playroom. The big events of the week were Uncle Daniel's soccer game and the Memphis Zoo. We used Katie's camera at the soccer game so to see pictures of our trip to the game you will have to check out the Banks family blog. I have a few pics of the zoo.
We didn't maximize our "photo opportunities" and neither Katie nor I realized this until after the visit was over. Ward is currently sitting on my lap and helping me choose photos for this post. He is fairly insistent about a few of these...particularly the one of he and Aubrey in the wagon and the one of "Aubrey's Daddy" (aka: Uncle Daniel).

Ward was mesmorized by the t.v.

Aubrey wasn't quite awake yet for this picture and wasn't entirely sure she like Ward taking over her favorite chair.

Emerson was always eager to hold baby Sloane.

Aubrey and Ward at the zoo...totally impossible to get a picture with them both looking at me.

Ward was looking at the horses wondering why he couldn't touch them.

Uncle Daniel and Aubrey

Emerson and Ward loving the zoo and Em exhibiting some of her excellent Big Sister qualities

Emerson was totally disgusted by the hippos...she is way to girlie for this.

Just a reminder to check out www.danielandkatie.blogspot.com for more pictures. It is Katie's post from March 26th. She has much better pics from the visit.

World Travelers

Aside from being away from Trey for several weeks the other downside to our US trip was having to travel with the kids by myself. The idea of heading towards new baby cousins, sunshine and some potential rest time made the risk worth it. We had a 20 hour trip including flight time and layovers and I have to say Emerson and Ward did a totally amazing job! Our layover was in the Amsterdam airport. This is a very kid-friendly airport and the indoor play time was a saving grace during this journey. They didn't sleep much...45 minutes for Em and 3 hours total for Wardie, but they had excellent behavior. Ward had a mini meltdown in the last leg but then crashed and slept for the last hour. Emerson was such a huge help and I was so proud of my big girl! In the end it was worth it and Emerson could not have been more excited to hold her baby cousin Sloane.