Down at the Ranch

We spent the long weekend down at the ranch visiting Don's parents. They live on 20 acres that isn't farmed, so it's 20 acres of good times for the kids. They rode in their Grampa's Rhino through trails in the back, threw a torn apart and slobbery soccer ball to Gramma's dog Rubie, shouted at the tops of their lungs without having any neighbors to bother, visited with cousins, and played in the dirt. My friend Andrea once said, "Sometimes, a kid needs to just throw rocks." Well, my kids threw rocks all weekend and it made me feel like a good mom to let them.





On a side note...this visit brought back a good memory for me of when I used to visit my Grampa in Lake Havasu. His neighbor had a dog named Tracy that always came out to play with us. Tracy had a tennis ball that we would throw down the desert hill and she would chase. She'd bring it back up and the ball would be covered with pokey stickers, dirt, and little rocks. But mostly it was covered, no drenched, in slobber. I'm telling you, Tracy was one slobbery dog. That ball was so heavy from slobber that it's a wonder we could ever throw it. Gosh, I loved that dog. I loved being out in the back without my mom or dad watching over me and just playing with a dog. And I loved being with my Grampa because I knew that no one else loved me the way that he loved me. So I hope that my kids had fun throwing nasty ole balls at a dog and spending time with people who loved them.