Meeting Randolph the Bull: City life vs. Country Life

Drew and I live in a suburb of a large city.   Although we live on a corner lot, houses are very close by and it just feels very "suburban".   So, it is always nice to visit my parents at their home in Oklahoma, where they live on about 22.5 acres (their lot is 2.5 acres and they lease a 20 acre lot behind them from the city).  Life out there is just different....in many good ways.   Even though I live in the city and truly do enjoy a lot of the city's amenities, I feel I am a "country girl" at heart.   My parents still live in the house that I basically grew up in.  Therefore, visiting them always brings back fond memories of life as a child.  I also love letting our kids enjoy so many of those things that I enjoyed growing up.  Even though they live on quite a bit of land, my parents also live in a suburb (Broken Arrow--about 100,000 residents) of a fairly large city (Tulsa, OK).  

Since we planned on spending an entire week there, we decided to visit an aunt and uncle that live about an hour away from my parents.  They have always invited us to visit, but it is so difficult to find time on our short visits there.  So, we were excited about the special treat to visit them at their farm, since we were in town for about a week.  My aunt Clara Sue and uncle Randy live in a very small rural community. So, it is even a drastic difference living there compared to my parent's house.  They built their house over 30 years ago.  And, when I say "they" built their house, I don't mean that they had it built.  I mean they built it.  They carried every single stone and put it in place--the same place where it still stands (they did a good job!)  They also built a lot of the furniture in their home.  And, although they no longer have goats and chickens, they do still have cattle and horses.  The kids don't get to experience life like that very often, so it truly was a special treat for them.

Here come some of the cows...they know we have treats for them at the fence.

Here is Luke meeting Randolph, their Bull. This guy is quite the bull.  He's huge and probably weighs 1200 lbs, according to my aunt.

Here, Drew is feeding Randolph a treat.  When he was at the fence getting treats, the other cows stood back.  They know who rules the farm.

Abbey and Luke thought Randolph was pretty cool.  Abbey just giggled every time Drew fed him a treat.  Luke thought the "moos" were funny.

We tried some fishing in their pond.  Grandpa taught the boys a little bit about fishing.

My brother, Jeremy, and my nephew, Traber trying to catch a fish.

My aunt bought some bubble wands for the kids.  They had a lot of fun playing with them out there.  You can watch your bubbles fly for hundreds of yards when you are out in the country!

After a delicious, completely homemade lunch (my aunt is a wonderful cook, so this was a really special treat!), we headed back home.

We enjoyed some country life at my parents' house as well:

Luke, checking out my parents' garden.

Picking some bell peppers for Grandma.

Horses have funny noses.

Abbey loved feeding the horses.  Little Miss Independent would often pick a tiny blade of grass and head toward the horse barn to feed them.

Eagerly awaiting Abbey's daily feeding.

Luke was slightly more timid around the horses than Abbey, but still enjoyed feeding them (with long blades of grass).

Here is a little video of Abbey feeding the horses:

In the country, you can feel free....and run forever and still be safe on your property. I loved that growing up.

Perhaps in the city, Abbey hasn't noticed her shadow as much.  She noticed it one evening when we went for a walk, and it frightened her a bit.  She kept trying to run away from it.  You can see her looking for her "comfort spot" in this photo (her finger in her belly button).

The air is fresh in the country and there is plenty of space for dreaming and imagining.  The weather also happened to be pretty much perfect while we visited last week.   Needless to say, we spent about 80% of our time there outdoors.  It was divine!

And lastly, when you spend time in the country, "city-things" matter less.  Technology isn't as important.  (I barely picked up my smart phone or used the computer for the entire week we were there.  I was too busy enjoying God's creation and my family.)   Linnea, Lilly (our nieces) and Luke are enjoying God's creation and each other in this photo.