Harvest

Each year we go to my grandparents to "farm" with them during the harvest. I joked with my uncles that we don't all rush to my dad's office and sit in his chair with him when earnings are announced! However, when it's time to harvest the crops we flock to the farm and sit right up there in the combine with them! My grandma drives the blue van, affectionately named the "chuck wagon" out to the fields and brings all of the men lunch. We got there at lunch time and enjoyed dessert to celebrate my grandpa's 81st birthday. My uncle Randall was the combine operator. David got to ride first. After Elizabeth asked if there was a potty in the combine and we cleared the air on that topic, it was our turn. Grandpa drove us out to the combine in his pick-up. Elizabeth was confused, she thought we were going for a combine ride and didn't understand why we were in the truck. She began whimpering and said, "this would be more fun if we were in the combine!" A few seconds later we were in the combine! Grandpa went to another field to drill wheat, which I learned you say "drill" instead of "plant" when referring to wheat.

If you have never been in a combine you would truly be amazed by the amount of technology. I should have taken a picture of the inside of the cab. The combine can actually steer itself using GPS. At one point we were unloading, while harvesting, and talking on the cell phone - talk about multi-tasking!

After some time in the field we headed back to the house. Elizabeth's favorite thing to do is play in grandma's basement because she has baby dolls and all other kinds of toys. We even ended up bringing one of the toys home, a Little Tikes ride on train that Grant fell in love with!

It was such a beautiful day that we insisted on some more fresh air. Elizabeth was fascinated with the hickory nuts. Grandma showed her how to break them open and use a very special tool (a dental pick!) to get the nuts out.

We all sampled some very tasty hickory nuts. They are a lot of work and very hard to open. My mom even remembered that great grandma Briggs used to run them over with the car to break them open!

It was a fun day and it was extra special to have my brother there. My mom took some great pictures of David and Grant.