to the farm

Last week we made a long overdue trip to my grandpa's farm in central Missouri. I say long-overdue because I haven't been there since I graduated from high school 17 years ago. Of course, we've visited with Grandpa in other places. But it was time to take Kevin and the girls to see where my dad grew up and where I made lots of memories as a kid. Mom and Dad met us in St. Louis, and after speaking to some dear friends at a church we rented a car and hit the road. The girls couldn't wait to get there!

Once we arrived, it didn't take long for my dad to get in one of Grandpa's tractors and give the girls a ride. Kevin also drove the tractor for a while. I love this picture of my sweet 87 year-old grandpa waving to the girls.

My Aunt Betty also visited and made this contraption to pick pears. Grace really got into the pear-picking and after working she declared, "I knew it was hard work being a farmer but I didn't know it was THAT hard!"

My Uncle Jerry and cousin Lucus arranged for the girls to get acquainted with some piglets. This litter was just a few days old.

Trinity told us before we went to the farm that she "wanted to hold a baby pig and a baby cow." We told her the calf was too big, but she got to hold that piglet after all.

We also got to see where my grandma is buried. It was so strange to visit the farm without Grandma there. The first thing I noticed when we arrived at the farm was that Grandma's vegetable garden was gone.

We looked at lots of old pictures and heard Grandpa share stories about family.

Central Missouri is beautiful.

There's a large Pennsylvania Dutch community in this area. They are precious people and have been wonderful neighbors to my grandparents over the years. We visited my grandpa's next-farm- neighbor one afternoon. They have a dairy and even showed us a calf just 2 days old, but no, Trinity didn't hold it.

Pristine farm home

Note the buggy parked in the garage along with the tractor set on steel wheels rather than rubber, since rubber-tired vehicles aren't allowed in their community. But this family would be considered progressive in that they own a tractor.

Our trip to Missouri was a fast one but we made many memories. As we left, Grandpa grinned and told me not to wait so long to come back the next time. :)