5 Generations

 Grandpa Freitas and his great-grand kids..

My grandpa was a cotton farmer in the valley, as was his father before him. Grandpa went to high school, then went to college for 2 weeks before a neighbor offered to let him farm 20 acres. Grandpa quit school and took on farming. I remember getting up at the break of dawn and riding in his old Toyota that smelled of pure farm dirt. We would speed along the rutted dirt roads that lined the edges of the crops. listening to old-time country and talk radio as he did the rounds to his different plots of land, checking the water, turning pumps on and off, shoveling canals...He did this day in and day out during the growing season.

This trip I got the opportunity to ask grandpa about some old photographs. Here are a few...

 My grandpa in High School is the one on the right, and the girl under his arm was a girlfriend at the time. (He seemed to have a lot of pictures of him and different ladies...he was quite good looking, and still is ; )

 

 This is my grandpa on the first cotton picker he ever bought.
If you look closely, you can see that this cotton picker has two prongs in the front. It picks one row at a time. Later my grandpa purchased a two-row picker...

 This is my great Grandpa, George Freitas, on the right. They are showing off elk horns. Hunting lives on in our family to this day. My grandpa hunted and my Uncle and cousins still do. There are 5 Generations between George Freitas, and my kids.

 This is a (partial) picture of the very first twenty acres that my grandpa farmed after High School. The small pink house in the distance, where the furrow ends, is one of the houses that my grandpa grew up in ( his childhood house was on this property as well, just about 100 feet away. It was in poor condition and had to be torn down a long time ago). My great Grandma Maime Freitas continued to live here after George Freitas passed away and I have memories of picking and canning apricots, peaches and making pies in her kitchen.

Fresno

 We took our van to Fresno, got a pop-top put on...and now we're ready to go! There's standing room when the bed is attached to the roof...

 ..and a cozy little space for Ryan and I to sleep with windows all around. The kids are already trying to claim it. No way! :  )

 The real highlight of the trip was seeing my grandpa. He hasn't seen much of the kiddos. We got to go through his old pictures and he told me who people were, and he absolutely LOVED playing with and spending time with the kiddos.

My grandpa was a cotton farmer in the valley, and his father also farmed cotton in the valley. We got some awesome old pictures I hope to frame...

It Appears...Chester

Ryan and I decided that our kids have it pretty good. 

Wonderful things just "appear" each day.   

Each day they wake up and get lots of hugs and kisses. Then a delicious (usually hot) meal appears for them to eat. Throughout the day friends and fun new toys appear in houses they visit.  When the kids ride in the car the beach suddenly appears, or sometimes it's the park or zoo...Then, around noon there's more yummy food. They just ask and it appears!

 When they get sleepy for a nap a warm bed and blanket always appear, along with a few hours set aside to rest. After naptime they just play and sometimes friends appear again. Feeling hungry kiddos? More yummy food suddenly appears (dinner), followed by a warm bubble bath, lots of snuggles and a warm bed.

Hey Ry, Can I have that schuedule for a Mother's Day gift next year! 

Imagine what is going through their heads when they get in the car. They don't know, is it 3 min. to the store? 5 min to the gym? 20 minutes to an Aunt's house? They have no idea. They just buckle up and wait. 

A couple of weeks ago they unsuspectingly got into the car and 8 hours and two days later they arrived here...

The family cabin in Chester.

Suddenly, they're fishing and exploring riverbeds every day. 

They have no idea what happened to our home or if we're ever going back. They don't care. 

This amazing place just appeared and they love it!

(Imagine if one day you're plopped in a bike carrier and then...

 this cool lake appears that you get to swim and throw rocks in...

Then you jump in the car and before you know it... it's amazing! An ice cream cone that's half the size of your head appears in your hand and you get to devour the whole thing guilt free. Life is good.)

  God has blessed us with the ability to abundantly provide for our kids' needs in so many different ways, physically, spiritually and emotionally. 

Ryan and I consider it a great gift that we can  be a part of helping these blessings "appear" in our kid's lives.

For the Fam.

A few pics of everyday life...for the fam. We are so blessed.

Lyndal's Graduation Weekend

Fourth of July

Beach Day in Cayucus with Jaime

We just love our babies and are having more and more fun with them every day!