Country Kids

 

 

There's no doubt about it: Our children are turning into country kids!  Recently, Leah actually used the words, "I reckon" in a sentence, which caused me to immediately call Mark at work and tell him that we needed to schedule a trip north ASAP!  All joking aside, we absolutely love what I have dubbed the "cute country" that makes up our new town.  Oak Ridge is very quaint and has rural roots, and there are still many working farms in the area.  In fact, this is the view from our house each morning:  Yes, those are cows behind our next door neighbor's back yard:

Can you spy the 3 cows on the right side of the photo?

  Summerfield Farms is a lovely farm near Luke's school that sells grass-fed beef, eggs, fresh cut flowers, and produce.  It's rustic and historic, and the venue for many weddings.  I may have gone momentarily crazy the first time I drove up and saw it decorated for an event, and texted Mark the following:  "I FOUND LEAH'S WEDDING RECEPTION LOCALE!", to which he responded with radio silence.  Maybe it was the ALL CAPS that scared him.  Anyway, the kids love climbing on the tractor when we stop at the market here, and it's one of our favorite local "cute country" places:

 

We've also visited our local Farmer's Market, where we discovered that Leah was fascinated by the live country music that was being played:

 

The musician even let our little country girl strum the guitar, which made her day!: 

 

Another of our favorite places in our town is the old mill, which has been in use since Revolutionary War times and still produces stone ground meal, flour, and corn.  Yep, definitely qualifies as "cute country" in our book:

 

 

Now that we live in the country, Mommy decided that we need a "cute" riding mower to cut our larger lawn (or "piece of land" as we call it out here).  The kids and I picked out the perfect one for Mark for Father's Day:

 

But alas, we decided on a more practical, functional mower instead, and both Luke and Leah have enjoyed helping Daddy use his new gift:

 

 

One of the perks of living in a small rural town is that you may have your own private roller coaster at RidgeFest, Oak Ridge's annual festival.  We arrived early on Friday, and the kids spent the evening riding rides and playing games before the later crowds arrived:

 

Part of RidgeFest included a 5K that went right past our house last weekend.  Mark and I were happy to be spectators (and not participants!) and our family had front row seats to cheer on the runners:

 

 

Here are two last photos of the farm on the road leading to our neighborhood, which makes me happy every time I pass it.  I love that we found this adorable little corner of the world to call home, and to raise our "country kids"!