Saturday, August 7, 2010

One Fine Day


One fine July day, we ventured to one of our favorite places, Ararat Acres. Ararat Acres is a post in itself, but if you are curious you can visit Liz's blog at The Bee's Knees. She posts about life on the farm.
We met Ararat Acres' newest family member, a miniature donkey named Diego and affectionately called "Donkey Boy." Donkey Boy isn't much taller than Snugglebug.




Snugglebug wasn't sure about Donkey Boy. As far as Snugglebug was concerned Donkey Boy was still bigger than he was. But, for Donkey Boy, he saw another miniature just like him and immediately fell in love.

But, meeting Donkey Boy was only the appetizer, the real treat was apple picking. Snugglebug picked his first apple and thought that was heaven on earth. Apples are one of his favorite foods and pulling them off the tree was tons of fun.









For the apples too high for him to reach, I picked him up. He reached and grabbed them without any effort. And for those wondering what happened after he pulled them from the tree...He gingerly dropped them in the bucket. Okay, so some of the apples ended up slightly bruised but they all became apple sauce or apple butter in the end, so it didn't really matter.





Of course, you cannot pick apples without working up an appetite. While Liz and I picked the higher apples, we let Snugglebug take a break...And, of course, eat an apple. YUMMO!!

Once apple picking had been finished, we retired to the house for some fresh watermelon and cantaloupe! Unbeknownst to Liz and I, Charlie, Liz's husband captivated Snugglebug with his guitar and banjo. Snugglebug was entranced by the music but even more so by the ability to produce the music.




Keep in mind that Snugglebug is only 2 1/2. The typical two year old is a disaster waiting to happen and certainly should not be let anywhere near a guitar or banjo, but Charlie let Snugglebug hold and play the banjo. For the next 45 minutes, Charlie instructed Snugglebug on the fine points of banjo playing. And by the end of the lesson, Snugglebug was holding the banjo just like Charlie held his guitar and strumming the strings with his little fingers. Something tells me we may have guitar or banjo lessons in our future.

We ended the morning with dueling banjos and a very fine performance it was. I wish I had my video camera! It was a sight to behold.

I'm Back...

Back by popular demand! All 12 of my readers have requested that I return to blogging. This has been an incredibly busy summer, so I hope to catch you up and continue to post as fall rolls around.



Snugglebug is 2 1/2 and a busy little fellow. Between Speech Therapy twice a week, Occupational Therapy once a week, Storytime with friends every Wednesday, play-dates on Tuesdays, birthday parties, church get-togethers, and just your basic weekends, we have not had a whole lot of down-time for things like blogging, reading, and watching TV. Through it all we have managed to find a nice balance between therapies, doctors, friends, and social engagements. While we have scurried from one thing to another, we have had an equal amount of fun as we have work.

My hope is that despite our busy schedule, we, Snugglebug and I,will look back on this summer and say, "This is the summer friendships began." I don't think we will look back and see a hurried season that blurs one day into the next. I think we will look back at events such as Storytime each week and remember fondly playing with friends, reading fun books, singing even more fun songs, and simply enjoying a hot, summer day with friends.