It would be easy to use my journaling time today to recap what we did for Thanksgiving but, let's face it, that would be kind of boring. What I'm going to share is related, without a play by play. After we ate yesterday, we went to my mother and father in law's new/old farm. I say new/old because it has been in their family forever, but they are the new owners. They have lived the last 30 years in a small ranch home not too far from this land. My MIL's mother and father had this land and the buildings on it until she passed earlier this year. There are 6 children and they split up the land, animals, rental trailers, and farm equipment between them. No one else wanted the actual farm, but my MIL did. My FIL was a bit resistant, mostly because of the amount of work it would take to keep up with the small farm property, and then to sell their house they've lived in for decades. But since no money had to be exchanged, they can take their time with both getting the farm house ready to move into, and selling their current home. There are many old sheds and buildings on the property, but one is the house my MIL grew up in that had no electricity or running water before the current house was built. It is so crazy to think about that! Yesterday we walked down to the creek and saw the spring that her parents would get water from. It's now fairly dilapidated and stores old farm stuff, but it is really cool to have that piece of history on their property. After they split everything 6 ways, my in laws got about 10 acres of land including the house, one of the pastures, some woods, and the creek. I cannot tell you how excited I am to have my kids grow up visiting and playing here!
One of my internal struggles since choosing the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling for my family is that there is quite a lot she recommended, that I agree with, that is really hard to provide in many modern day settings. For example, she suggested that kids be outside for 4-6 hours a day. I actually totally agree with that, but when you have a toddler and live in the suburbs with small lots, you have to supervise everything, and who has 6 hours to sit outside each day!? Any day that's nice, we aim for 2 hours, and my kids LOVE nature and being outside, so it's working. But I do still with that I could open the back door and send them out into our expansive field of a backyard to run, play, and collect bugs. Buuuuut I really like having neighbors and short mowing times and Target, Chickfila, and Starbucks 5 or so minutes away :). So, in a way, this is the best of both worlds. I keep my modern conveniences (I'd still like a bit more property at some point in our future, but for now we are staying put!), but we have 10 glorious acres of land we can hop in the car and go play on and explore for the day. I'm not sure why we didn't feel like we had that same access when Steven's grandma was alive... certainly I don't think she would have cared, and probably would have loved it!... but this certainly feels like opening a whole world of nature and fresh air to my kids. Yesterday they spent about a half hour running across the tops of hay bales. I can't wait for more of that!
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