Going to feed the chickens with Grandpa Bob. 

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We had a busy weekend. After a long day at market on Saturday, Bracken fell asleep on the drive back. As soon as we got home, I worked on unloading the market stuff from the car and Jeff headed out to water the garden for the following day. (These days whenever we are going to be away on a hot day, there is a lot of watering in the garden to do for preparation.) Bracken was so sleepy when I brought him in the house, he didn’t even wake up. Jeff had woken up super early Saturday morning and was exhausted. With both of them asleep in bed, I returned downstairs for a bath and to get the kitchen back in shape. I knew Sunday morning that Jeff would be waking up early again to get food made and packed for our trip. I didn’t want him to come down to a sink full of dishes and a mess. I got things cleaned up and then joined them in dreamland. On Sunday morning when Bracken and I came downstairs, Jeff had the rest of the garden watered, the chickens and ducks taken care of (plenty of food and water in the coop, we can leave them in the coop if we’re only gone for one night), and food packed in the car. We got packed and ready and got back on the road. We arrived at my dad’s house early afternoon to celebrate my stepgrandmother’s 80 birthday. There was a house full of people: my dad, my stepmom, my stepsisters (one with her little guy), the birthday girl, my stepgrandfather and his brother and nephew. We visited the chickens, took a walk around the garden, ate some really delicious food, and said hello to the alpacas. There was also something else that Bracken wanted to do.

He remembered the tractor ride from last time and he requested to go on a tractor ride again.

 Watching the tractor ride.

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I didn’t even get a picture of the birthday girl that turned out. I always think later that I should have taken more pictures. We left in the evening and stayed overnight in Ashland. I had only been to Ashland once before and Jeff and I think it’s such a beautiful town. Bracken hadn’t had a nap that day, was really tired by that point and fell asleep on the drive. Honestly I just felt like driving back home because it was still light out and because I thought Bracken would have kept sleeping, but we already had a hotel reservation. Plus it was really nice to drive through Ashland and see it just a bit more, it looked so pretty at sunset. We didn’t sleep much that night. We had plans to visit a shop in Ashland the next morning that carries our jewelry, but they weren’t going to open until too late in the day for us to wait. At six something we felt really ready to get back on the road and the drive back seemed faster. Bracken did so well being in the car three days in a row for long periods of time. We got home today before noon. We were so happy to be home and the chickens and ducks were so happy to be out of the coop. Bracken is napping next to me while I write this. We’re all going to sleep well tonight. Nothing makes your bed seem so welcome and comforting as a night away.

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