Abby's 29th

Happy Birthday to Abby!!! Yes, its true. I turned 29 on July 3 and I was so lucky to have so much family around! Those of you who were not here were truly missed, but the party must go on.....



We started the day with a visit to Pond Hill Farm. They have beautiful gardens, and this year we noticed that they have a community garden where as a family or organization you can pay and plant your own garden! All of the plots had hand painted signs to designate who owned it- I really liked this one.



Since our visit this time last year, a brand new barn was built where you can buy little buckets of food to feed the animals. They just had a bunch of piglets born, they were so cute and pink!



There were also dozens of sheep and lambs that you can feed straight from your hand. I found a little lamb outside of the pen and got him to come close so John could touch him- he was a little nervous at first but he was okay as long as Jeff or I was holding him. Owen did a great job also feeding the sheep himself (maybe next year John!).



Somehow a few of the large cows that are also housed in the barn got out of the pen, a few of us left quickly (Jeff, John, Dad & I) Someone went and told a staff member while Dad closed the big barn door so none of the cows could get out, but there were a lot of people still inside! The staff member ran to the barn and told all of the people to leave while he shut the door and worked to get the cows back in their pen. It was an interesting few minutes with the cows making all kinds of noise! We didn't go back into the barn, but walked on the road for a little while, John saw a big tractor and walked right up to the wheel- didn't I tell you that this child is obsessed with wheels!




After Pond Hill we went home for lunch and then while Owen napped Mom, Mandy, John and I went up to Three Pines Studio where there was a workshop on Indigo Tie Dye. They were doing beach bags and sarongs- both things that I use all the time! I did both- Mandy and Mom only did the bags (actually Mandy even did Mom's bag because Mom had John!) After you do the 'relief' which was done by using rubberbands and marbles, you soaked the cloth in water and then Joann dipped it into the dye. Because the bags were made of canvas you had to soak it for 15 minutes, John LOVED helping- well, actually just playing in the water!


I absolutely LOVE how my bag and sarong turned out. Joann said that people kept trying to claim it as their own while they were drying at the gallery, but she knew who's it was and wouldn't let it go! I'll post pictures soon.

You'd think that after such a busy day we would just relax and have an early night, but nope... We went out to the Douglas Lake Bar and Steakhouse for dinner. We sat outside and looked out at the lake while we ate. This came in handy because the boys were restless sitting in highchairs for an extended period, so we took them for walks out on the dock and threw pebbles into the water. Dinner was good, but the company was better (the White Haven was pretty good too!!) Again, D, K, K, A & P, you were truly missed.


You can't even tell that Owen still wasn't 100%! CHEESE!!


Walking the dock with our Daddy's







(I know he looks like a geek in his blue socks, but he really doesn't like grass!)