It was a busy week here at the Farm, as we had my Mom and Dad visiting us for ten days from Ontario. Time always seems to go by too quickly, but we made some great memories and had some great adventures with them while they were here.
We started the week out with farm truck tours around the property, showing off Dan’s hard work on all our cut lines and trails we have carved out of the bush. We took them to each of our trail cams to change pictures, later looking at all the deer we had caught on camera on the computer. We had lots of help for chore times, getting Mom and Dad right in there to help feed the pigs and collect eggs from the chickens. I was able to show off my flower beds to Mom and I think I got her stamp of approval! She has quite the green thumb so I had lots to live up to.
Next we spent a day on the Pembina river fishing. Beautiful scenery, hot weather and a couple cold drinks made it the perfect day. Dad was the first to catch a fish, pulling in a decent sized Jackfish (Pike). He’d go on to the be the fisher of the day, pulling in five Jackfish and one Walleye (Pickerel). I even caught a small Jackfish right before we left for the day.
On Sunday we spent the day over at Dan’s dad’s farm and down at the cabin. We took Mom and Dad for a tour around on the quads, Dad got to catch a big trout out of the pond and we had a wonderful roast beef dinner with everyone. It was great to introduce everyone and have the Neabels meet the Burches!
Monday was my favourite day, and a day that will not be forgotten. We had woken up to rain for the second day in a row. Things were getting mucky. We went out to get our chores done first things. We headed for the muddy pig pen and after feeding both groups, I turned around to fine Dan down on one knee in the mud holding a diamond ring. He asked me to spend the rest of my life making a life with him. I couldn’t have asked for a more real proposal, and of course I said yes!!! I cannot wait to become Mrs. Hadleigh Burch!
Tuesday we left for a little road-trip. We started in Jasper National Park, spending a night there and visiting one of our favourite little restaurants Syrah for dinner. We walked around the town visiting little shops and boutiques. In the morning we were BC bound. We stopped to do a river safari where we spotted two black bears. We took a back mountain road through Wells Gray Provincial Park and hiked back to Myrtle Lake. It was a beautiful hike with great scenery. Not to mention the side of the mountain trail we rode down that ended up giving Mom nightmares of falling off of cliffs! Oooops! We spent the next night in Kamploops and the next day we meandered through a couple of wineries, stopped at my favourite attraction The Log Barn and found a little dairy with the best ice-cream. Our last stop in BC was Golden for supper and then we trucking on home. It was a late night back but an amazing trip, and ever better to have shared it with Mom and Dad.
Friday was a low key day at the house. Mom and I picked goodies from the garden, including beans, carrots, zucchini and cucumbers. We managed to pickle three jars of dill pickles and one jar of dill beans. We had fresh beans, carrots and zucchini for dinner. We cut fresh dill, mint, sage and basil to hang and dry for preserving. Dan and dad built supports for all my flowers that had fallen down as a result of all the rain we got and also built new racks for our wine room! It was a great way to spend the last day with them.
Saturday we were off to St. Albert to spend the day with my Aunt and Uncle and to leave Mom and Dad for the night so they could take them back to the airport. We visited the St. Albert farmers market, Holes greenhouse and ordered in Chinese for supper. Goodbyes are always the hardest part. After some big hugs, lots of tears and a promise of visits soon, we were heading back home.
This morning feels like we have awoken to a very fallish day. I guess as we said goodbye to Mom and Dad we also waved goodbye to Summer. It is crazy to think we are heading into September already! But there are no tears for this girl, I am so ready for sweater weather, tea and pumpkin everything.
Hello Fall!!!!
