Leaf Rakin' Good Time

It only took about 2 minutes for the boys to run and dive into the huge amount of leaves surrounding my grandparents old farmhouse in West TN this weekend. We went down there with the intentions of enjoying the beautiful weather, relaxing a little and, of course, raking up all those leaves! Will was so excited because his Papa told him, "You should just see all the leaves at Poppy's house. You can't even see any grass!" That's all it took for Will. He was ready to go!! When we got there, the boys were NOT disappointed! They stomped around and crunched the leaves, then ran as fast as they could and jumped!

They were so excited!! Leaves flew everywhere! Our nephew Landon came with us so we had a 5 year old, 3 year old and 2 year old that were in leaf flyin heaven! :)

They continued to play and run around for quite a while.

Wyatt really enjoyed running really fast and saying "watch dis" right before he jumped!

The boys were having such a great time, until.....

....they realized we were raking up the leaves to burn them. It was so pitiful the looks on their faces! We explained that there were plenty of leaves to play in still and we would save a huge pile just for them as well!

3 solemn boys watching their fun burn away!

They were sad for a little bit but once they realized there were still plenty to play in, they were happy again! Over the next couple of days, they helped us raking and dragging the leaves to the ditch as well as messing up plenty of pre-raked piles :)

They were so exhausted by bedtime but, of course, getting 3 boys to sleep all in the same bed, was quite tricky! We opened a sofa sleeper and piled the sleeping bags on top. They thought it was so cool!

See, even the next morning, plenty of leaves to stomp around in!

Wyatt (and the 2 other boys too) got to do their favorite thing, ride the 4-wheeler and the tractor! In fact, each time Wyatt saw the 4-wheeler, he would run and jump up on it. One time, he actually started it by himself!! He was in the barn while my Dad and Uncle and others were right outside the barn raking the leaves. They heard something start and Uncle John ran in to see Wyatt scrambling down off the 4-wheeler as fast as he could. John said Wyatt was so scared that it actually started, he was leaving the "crime scene" as fast as possible :)

Each time we would go down to the pond to fish, the boys were more interested in riding than fishing! Riding around in the woods was prime fun!

Will and Landon between rides. They are watching Trent fish and waiting to help him reel in the big one! I didn't get a picture of it, but Will helped John reel in the biggest bass ever caught out of this pond. When we held it up, it went from Will's head to about his knees! It was huge!! Of course I didn't have my camera that time :)

Trent loves to fish and could stay all day long and do nothing but that. However, with 3 little ones around, it's not quite as peaceful!

Landon was more interested in fishing than the other 2 and actually stood there and fished all by himself!! What a big boy!!

As Mom, Dad, Jane and I took the boys for a "hike" in the woods, Trent finally catches one! I don't know...is he proud?

On our hike, we found lots of cool stuff to explore. There were VERY big leaves, little varmint holes, giant trees and fun creeks to walk across. They found this log laying across a creek and had to see if they could get across!

Will made it back and forth several times by himself. The other 2 walked it several times but had a little help!

We have so much fun when we go to the "country". Lots of woods to explore and fun things to do. We get to stay in the house where my grandfather grew up and listen to stories about how life was then. I have so many memories of fun times there growing up and I look forward to making many more with the boys!