The Boyer Family Blog...: A Broken Camera and Wheeler Farm!

After our trip to McCall, we left Hannah and Lizzie at Em's house and took Karl home with us for a "cousins" swap. We had a great time with Karl-guy, although I missed my girls like CrAzY!!! A few days later, Em brought the girls and my dad to stay with us (and later Randon and Spence/Kerri also came). It was my Grandma Burton's 90th birthday party. I had some fun pictures of the time we spent together, but my camera seems to have died. :( It was very sad. None of the pictures I took turned out. I looked into sending it in for repairs, but it would have cost nearly $200. Ugh. Joe was a sweetie and let me buy a new camera (well, a USED new camera). I am super happy with it.

I got a chance to try out my new camera earlier this week. For our weekly "field trip", I took the kids to Wheeler Farms. It is a free, historic farm where the kids can sort of experience farm life. It is still a fully functioning farm today. As I watched the people working there, I thought that it is probably pretty annoying to have people constantly watching you work, lol. It happened to be the hottest day of 2009 (thus far). Ugh. When we got in the car after we were done, my thermometer said 97 degrees! We left home around 10:45 am and didn't get home until nearly 4:30. It was a hot and tiring day...perfect for kids, hehe! Isn't it great when they're all pooped when you get home? I was pooped as well!

We had a picnic before entering the farm (and yes, Em, once again I used the "easy" picnic method).

Bekah in her awesome $15 garage sale stroller

Pretty Lizzie enjoys her Laffy Taffy after lunch

Excited for our day!

There was this funny guy there who taught the kids about using a spinning wheel. It was actually very interesting! (Joe saw this picture and asked...Is he wearing a KILT?!? lol)

Here they all are (wishing their mom had turned on the flash option on her camera, hehe)

Emma took this picture. It's pretty cute!

Fun tree houses!

I mainly kept Rebekah trapped in her stroller. I did let her out occasionally and this was one of those times. :)

Little Pioneer Children

Bekah loves the big kids. They are almost like parents in some ways. It sure is nice for mom to have the extra help!

Bekars in the wagon with her big sibs

Caleb and Emma were super cranky. I don't know why. They kept whining and crying about things. Why do kids do that? LOL...Anyway, here is Caleb having one of his grumpy moments.

Milking stuff. You can pay to milk the cows, but I really had no interest in that, hehe.

The kids loved the chickens and the roosters. Emma looks just a tad bit nervous.

We stopped to have a drink of water and a break next to some cool water.

Gulp

On a hot day, it was tricky to keep the kids away from the water. It was shady and the cool breeze off the water felt great. Also, they love throwing rocks into anything that moves, hehe. We let them get a little close, but under tight supervision.

Cutie Norton kids

Teancum checks out the cute bunny. The kids had a big argument at the bunnies about their poo. The older kids were claiming that the poo was all in there with the bunnies and this just horrified Caleb. He wanted to be reassured that there wasn't any poop in the cage. Rachel pointed out the holes on the floor and then showed the kids the droppings UNDER the cages. I think this grossed out the older kids even more, hehe.

The edge of the farm borders this fancy schmancy neighborhood. The kids all went over and longingly gazed at their pool. Poor people who live there! Anyway, I noticed Caleb with this HUGE rock in his hand, poised and ready to chuck it into the pool! LOL. Fortunately, I stopped him. :)

They had these huge hogs (and a boar with tusks and such). The brown one was kinda wild and splashing mud around. The kids were scared of him. I like how you can see Sarah running for cover.

The kids next to the hogs

A bunch of natural cowboys!

They had restored the old "privy" and the kids enjoyed checking out the double holes.

Emma, Caleb, and Teancum try out riding a horse. :) Actually, they REALLY wanted to do the pony rides they offer. Unfortunately, they weren't doing them the day that we went there. You can also milk the cows and stuff. Rachel and I thought it was funny that you could pay fifty cents to do THEIR chores. :)

The only thing that cost money was the wagon ride. It took us on a nice tour of the land around the farm. It has lots of acres and it was really fun, gorgeous land. There is a river running through it and lots of trees and stuff. Lizzie, Emma, and Hannah look a little hot, hehe.

Ready to go!

Hannah taking pictures of the scenery. Gideon doesn't look too happy. At the end, he complained..."I'm never going on a wagon ride AGAIN...unless it's winter!" I guess he got hot, hehe.

Sorry, I took this picture at a funny angle, lol, and I can't seem to fix it. I think Rachel looks gorgeous, though, so I kept it in. Here she is with Helaman, ready for the wagon ride.

Back to feeding the ducks before we headed home...the kids loved that!

Emma and Lizzie share some bread

Teancum (3), Sarah (6), Lizzie (7), Emma (5), Hannah (9), Ammon (11), and Gideon (8)

As we looked at all the cool land and thought of the "adventures" the kids could have if they had lived there 100 years ago, I decided I am just too nervous to be a pioneer mom! LOL...I would have been constantly worried about them (and HOW did they call them home for dinner?)