Haying

This summer, haying has been family operation with David and both boys making hay "while the sun shines," as they say. The other day, Landen was raking, David was baling, and Nathan was lining them up.

We girls do what we tend to do best around here and brought them a little snack!

(No Pepsi floats yet, though! They will have to wait a few days until harvest for those!)

There is just something uniquely beautiful about huge round bales set against a blue sky.

Bunnies

You never know unless you ask!

That's what Nathan found out about three weeks ago when he casually asked his dad at lunch if he could get a rabbit.  Dad said yes and construction on a new rabbit cage began!

The boys worked together and repurposed the dog house David's Grandpa Neises made for our first dog Comet.

We adopted a couple of bunnies from the Aberdeen Area Humane Society on Friday.

Nathan chose the gray one since he wanted a boy.  His name is Snuggles.

Landen, by default, received the white spotted one.  He named him Chinchilla, after a wild bunny he had briefly as a toddler. (He watched a lot of Go! Diego! Go! back in the day.) :)

Snuggles is doing very well in his new home.

Unfortunately, it was discovered on Saturday morning that Chinchilla had found a crack on the homemade cage and made a run . . . er . . . hop for it.

She is now living happily somewhere near . . . or far . . . from our farm.

Our friends the Scotters allowed the boys to have their old rabbit cages and supplies from their days raising rabbits.  They have also given them a book, which has been read cover to cover--probably several times--and some good advice to get started.

Snuggles has a nice shady spot out in our trees for now. 

Landen plans to adopt a new rabbit soon, so Snuggles won't be lonely for long! :)

Johnston Lake Date

Saturday was our annual day with the Johnston family on Lake Enemy Swim.

Landen and Nathan tried out the ski trainer (aka surf board), used by four generations of Johnstons and Meliuses over the years.

All of the bigger kids tried out the tubes at one time or another. Here are Lily and Teresa!

The boys wanted to go fishing after supper.  Rachel insisted on fishing with her own fishing rod. We told her just to watch, but she would have nothing of it.  Finally, a fishing rod was found for her and minutes later, she was the only one to catch a fish!

All too soon our day on the lake was over and we headed home. 

There is a beautiful old bridge over the train track in Bristol, SD. As luck would have it, we were able to park on the bridge (not much traffic there!) and watch an evening train pass underneath.

Davids and Rachels

I've written before about the shared fabulous taste in names we have with David's cousin Jared and his wife Jan. They visited us a few years ago, and this year we had to take an updated photo of the David and Rachel Meliuses!

It only caused a small bit of confusion while they were here, (like when I asked David to reach something out of the cupboard for me and little David wondered for a second why I would ask him such a thing). :)

We love to have the same-name cousins and all of their family visit!

4th of July

 Time for a 2015 4th of July recap. I started it out early Friday morning with the 5K Color Run in my hometown of Eureka. There was an all-school reunion in town and it was fun to run into a few of my friends from the past!

My friend Tina and me before the race . . . 

and after with friends Karen and Theresa.

My dad and I toured our old high school. It will be torn down and replaced with a new high school in the near future.

 Here's the old study hall. It hasn't changed at all since my high school days, except for the lockers against the wall.  We only had our desks as our lockers, and that's just the way it was!

The hardwood gym floor and bleachers are new since I've been gone.

By late afternoon, I returned to Faulkton to catch up with the Melius family.

There are many photos of David's uncles playing basketball decades ago. Now a new generation is taking over the court!

Our family entered a float in the 4th of July parade and we won the Mayor's Award!

Rachel and her cousins Lydia and Avery had matching dresses. These three were inseparable all weekend!

Sunday was time for the Swanhorst Reunion. Some people are lucky enough to be Meliuses.  Some of lucky enough to be Swanhorsts.  BUT--some are lucky enough to be BOTH. (Including our branch of Meliuses and two others who married Swanhorsts). :) The reunion was held at Wylie Park.

By last evening, it was time to say goodbye to most of the family who came to visit, including Nathan's favorite cousin Adam!  (No, we didn't send Nathan back to Texas with him.) :)

Happy 4th . . . er . . . 6th of July!