On the Farm

Last night we went with some new friends out to their family's farm. Wow. It was a long 7 hours of Arabic and Swahili, but it was so fun!

If there was ever a doubt in anyone's mind that Lucy loves animals, well, we can put your mind at ease. They have cows, chickens, ducks, and 2 very sweet and tolerant dogs on their farm. Lucy was in animal heaven! Who knew!?!?

When we first arrived, around 4, they wanted to show us around the farm. (It was in the high 90s with probably close to 100% humidity...) They took us to the animal area first and that's when Lucy entered "hog heaven"... not really. No hogs here. She couldn't understand why we wouldn't let her down into the cow pen. She wanted to pet them so badly! She just kept saying, "Cow!" She and I went over to the pen at one point and she held up grass blades to feed the cows. They'd stick their long tongues out and slightly lick her fingers when grabbing the grass and she'd just laugh. Precious!

After that, she found the dogs. We know she loves dogs - as evidenced by the previous post "Lucy and the Dog" - but wow. Last night was intense love of dogs! Arabs aren't typically huge fans of dogs, so they were mesmerized by our daughter's obvious affection for them. She sat with them, hugged them, tried to feed them leaves, petted them, chased them around, tried *unsuccessfully* to mount them like horses and ride, pulled their tails... you name it. It was funny to see the dogs get tired of HER and run off! She'd head off after them and we'd have to drag her back. It was hysterical! I got a little bit of it on video:

*Disclaimer, this was taken later on in the night and Lucy did get the dog a bit riled up by running around and having him chase her. Immediately after filming this, we made her stop. Doggie was getting a bit wound up and bordering potentially dangerous... Let it be known, I'm not a dog person!*

Among cow feeding and dog chasing, Lucy basically took advantage of the huge grassy area to just run and talk and play. You can tell this girl is used to being in a confined space because she went CRAZY on the farm! She was as active last night as we've ever seen her!

Later on, she and Brad were standing up by their pool - yes, they even have a pool on their farm - and Lucy was itching to get in. Brad was letting her, along with all the rest of the kids, put their feet in the pool. A little later, Lucy was a bit over-eager reaching for a leaf in the water and she fell in! Thankfully, Brad was right there and he scooped her out. That was par for the night, though. For sure.

We spent 7 hours with them. About 95% of the time outside. It was hot. But it was fun! And we got some new friends out of it!

And here's Lucy's favorite "hiding spot" in the house we're staying in while we're here in our former city for a few weeks.