Day 238: Cowboys and Cowgirls!

While Grandma and Benaiah helped out at Benaiah's school's yard sale this morning, we were busy driving Jared to his worksite for the day, 30 minutes away.  But first we had to wait out another storm!  This time, there was hail!  And it blew right into our porch hitting the porch glass door!  Thankfully, there was no damage.  It was clearing when we drove home, which was good because that was NOT the case when we went to pick him up!  We drove throw some torrential rains on the drive back to get him around 6:30.  Anyway, gotta love pop up thunderstorms in the midwest!

So, what did we do BETWEEN the storms?  Had lunch and played with animals!  I took Keturah, Justin, and Abishai back to Miss Julie's barn and had a blast!  Oh my word, Abishai was incredible!  He was barely afraid of the animals and just dug in and petted them and ran around and learned quickly.  Justin, who didn't want to go, ended up falling in love with a bunny named Butterscotch.  And Keturah, well, check out the pictures below!

Beautiful butterflies on Miss Julie's huge wonderful property that she enjoys sharing!

The hayloft was a highlight!  They pretended it was their kingdoms, even fighting over it!  Although it was hot, they actually didn't complain too much about it!

Abishai fell in the mud, soon after we arrived, but had no idea what to do with the dirt on his hands! He looked at them and then wiped them on his pants! Way to go!  I'd rather he do that than put his hands in his mouth or something.

Keturah introducing Spanky to Justin.

Justin loved spraypainting the horses!

Does Abishai look like a natural in the barn?  Miss Julie tied up most of the horses, so Abishai was free to wander around.  He petted the goats and they didn't mind at all.

Check this out!  He's brushing the horse just like he would brush Socks!

Then Abishai found the water trough.  I was afraid he would fall in, so I stayed very close to him.  I think he did bring his hand up to his mouth at one point, but, well, that's life in a barn, right?  Dirty and germy!  He did take some hay from the water and tried to give it to the horses.  So cute!

Aw, I'm glad the kids like to try new things!  Yeah for Justin!

And look who actually got up on the horse today!  Both middles went around the arena once or twice.  This is Patches that she's riding.  Spanky wanted to eat the stirrup!

This boy is so amazing sometimes! We walked around the arena 10 times!  And when I went to get him down, he didn't want to!  When Miss Julie said to put his hands on the horn of the saddle, he did!  I stood right by him as we walked around, but he didn't shift or wiggle at all.  He LOVED it!  Just like his Mommy did when she was 15 months old!  So cool!

The bunny Justin fell in love with.  He wanted to bring her home.  Butterscotch is her name and she is very social and almost fell asleep in his arms.  He won't stop talking about her!  Abishai was not afraid to touch the bunny or the chicken either.

We played in the chicken coop, too, and again, Abishai didn't freak out.  He didn't chase them either.

I was trying to convince Abishai that the ducks were just like the duck in his Lucky Duck book but I don't think he understood.

Abishai thought he would take off down the lane and walk to Grandma's house.  I had to stay close by because they do have a pond nearby.

Justin helped bring down some hay for the horses.

Julie gave the horses some hay and let them go and then Abishai snuck into the arena again to say good bye.  Whoops!

Vroom, vroom!  And of course my boys would have the ATV.

Passing the nursing home on 16th and Shadeland and wow, I was afraid we wouldn't get through!  I have seen pictures of cars getting stuck in flash floods, but this is the closest I've been to one!  Thankfully Jared was driving and did just fine.

This is the drain in our parking lot of our condo.  There was so much water that it swirled!  Crazy!

And there you have it!  It was so awesome to get out of the house today.  We were gone so much that Justin didn't get a chance to study his Bible Bowl stuff until right before bed. We even had to have supper at 8pm!  And Abishai was stir crazy because he was short on his naps.  What a blessing Julie and her family is!

And if you're over on US31 near Edgewood, stop by Southside Christian School's yard sale fundraiser please and thank you!!