A Visit from Carrie and Colin

April 24-28, 2021                                                       Most Recent Posts:
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So nice that Carrie and Colin could come spend several days with Nana at the farm.  Celia will get her chance to come with her mom in June before Nana leaves for Vermont to hopefully beat the heat.  This is a ‘grandson picture heavy’ post so beware.

Often when Carrie comes for a visit some of her friends come to see her.  Kate is one of her closest high school friends and Colin was very happy to sit on the sofa while she read.   Niels came too but somehow I didn’t get a picture.

His Mom’s old high chair is just the thing for Colin.  It was an antique even when she sat in it.

And it can be turned around into this little table and chair for coloring.  They knew how to make things attractive, functional and long lasting in the early 20th century.

While Nana’s cleaning up the breakfast, Colin is trying out the old butter churn.  We never used that one, we just loved having it around.

But we did use this one every week when Carrie was Colin’s age.  Milk came from a neighborhood cow and a gallon was 1/3 cream.

Like his Nana, his mother and his sister, Colin loves books.  Carrie reads to him in Papa’s chair in the den.

But his favorite thing is to be outside.  The farm is a great place for him because he can be out on his own if he likes with no danger of cars.

He has a little trouble at first with Carrie’s old Radio Flyer wagon as you can see in this video which makes me laugh every time I watch it.  But he gets the hang of it and becomes absorbed in cleaning up the yard so Nana can mow.

We had a storm at the farm a few days earlier and there were sticks that had blown out of the trees.  He spent an amazing amount of time picking them up, putting them, no matter how big, into the wagon and hauling them behind the shed to the wood pile.

Heading back to the yard for another pick up.

Azaleas in bloom.

 

Here he has Carrie’s old Radio Flyer wheel barrow which didn’t work quite as well as the wagon for picking up fallen branches but he liked pushing it.  No problem figuring out whether you should push or pull.

Eventually he tired of yard clean up and we spent some time on the yard swing.

On Monday we headed into Charlottesville for two bank appointments to put Carrie on my accounts so she will have less trouble settling my estate than I did settling the two I had to contend with.

Afterwards, we rewarded Colin for amazingly great behavior for a rambunctious 2 year old by taking him to Greenleaf Park where he wanted to ride, climb and play  on everything of course..

     Riding

      Climbing

Sliding

A girl about the age of his sister joined him on the merry-go-round.

Then he wanted to check out the teeter totter and figure out what it was and how it worked. She decided she did too.  But she’s heavier than he is so he had to have some weight help from Mom to make it work.

When we returned to the farm, he played a while in the yard and when he took a nap, Nana and Mommy played Uno on the porch.

We kept the nap series going all the days they were here but I don’t remember who ultimately won.  You can sort of tell who won these hands though Carrie looks a lot less unhappy about losing than I do.

 

I think the most fun Colin had was when we went hiking in the woods.  He just loved it and hiked the first time for nearly 2 hours on his just over 2 1/2 year old legs.  He wants to be outside all the time.

Colin and his Nana

If it gets too steep, just crawl

And stop along the way to examine what you see

Our little woodsman.

I love this picture of Carrie in the woods of her childhood.

And this series of her and Colin. 
My baby with her baby. 
Sorry I couldn’t pick just one.

The beautiful Mountain Laurel was just coming into bloom in the woods.
So delicate.

There were butterflies all over it.

We walked to one of Carrie’s favorite spots with a little waterfall.

By now our little trooper was taking some sit downs

Ride em’ cow pokes.

Time to head back up to the house.  The spring greens in the woods are so lovely.

These two look mighty small in this vast looking space.

Little man gets a ride.

But soon he’s taking lessons.  His Nana and Papa taught his Mama to be a tree hugger and she’s teaching him.  Isn’t that what we all hope for that our important values will get passed down.  And that the world will be better for those we love.

I think he’s got the hang of it.

Such a beautiful day!

It’s a long way back and we have to take many breaks.

Showing his mama what he’s found sitting among the ground cedar.

At one point, I move some larger limbs off the trail to make the hiking easier for him and he’s all over it moving sticks large and small out of the way. 

I thought this was a pretty big stick for him.

That was until I saw this one.   Check out this funny video of the action.

Time for a bath in the old claw foot tub when we get back.  There are some great stories from Carrie’s childhood associated with this tub.

Playing the piano was a recurring activity.  Carrie’s concentration given Colin’s accompaniment was amazing.

Take a short listen.

On their last day, while they were packing, I got the lawn tractor out since I had to mow the grass and I figured Colin would love it.  Celia not so much.  She’ll cover her ears and run from the noise but when I asked if he wanted to ride, he certainly did.  And he wanted to drive.

So around we went.  He can come back in about 12 years and do this for me.

We had a great time the three of us. 
I’ll close with a series of pictures of Colin putting Papa’s UVA ball cap on the way Colin’s Daddy Matthew wears his.  
I know I’m very prejudiced but this is one cute little boy.

Thanks you two for coming.  I could not possibly love you more.