On the Way Home

 On our way back home Sunday afternoon, we made THE most unusual pit-stop: Bravo Farms

This place has the oddest collection of antiques, hand-built kid houses, shooting range, chicken coop, goats, mini-golf course, and a hand-built seven story tree house. There was also a BBQ jot, creamery, fruit stand, gift shop, and wine and cheese tasting on site. Seriously, this place was a smorgasbord of everything under the sun, and then some. 

 Did I mention it was kooky?!

What we thought was going to be a 20 minute stop, turned out to be well over an hour and a half. We decided to have lunch there too. The wood burning grill tri-tip sandwich was delish. And we grabbed some of our new favorite flavored milk at their creamery! So bummed that Rosa Brothers isn't carried up here! The kiddos passed out before we even pulled back onto the freeway and it was a delightful drive home the rest of the way. 

The weekend was simply wonderful. Just what I needed after the trying two weeks beforehand. The kids were great and loved the adventure. And it was just nice to have something go without a hitch and enjoy the pure adventure of getting away with our sweet family. My cup was filled and my bucket-list shortened. ;)

Sequoia National Park

After getting some rest, we headed out to Rosa Brothers again for their farm tour. I loved hearing about how accountable they are to their community, environment, and herd. You could tell that they run things well and that they were a close family, working well together. The boys got to milk a plastic cow which was a highlight for Ezra. He really wanted to milk. It was hard describing why the animals might not be safe to be around so this opportunity was perfect and satisfied his desire! :) 

We also got to pet a baby calf only a few days old and taste their variety of flavored milks. A.Mazing! Root beer float was my personal favorite. 

We did lunch at a local park for the boys to run off some steam before making the drive to Sequoia National Park. Every part of the way was just stunning. Golden yellow and bright red fall leaves everywhere. 

We drove all the way in to check out the General Sherman Tree-- the largest tree in the world! It did not disappoint.

We tried to find the spot where William had helped with the romantic set-up for Wesley and Carolyn all those years ago. Yup, Wesley proposed to Carolyn in the "Room Tree" here in the park. This is also the general area where W lived while being a youth pastor at a small church. Have I mentioned that this guy has seriously done everything?! He used to ride his motorcycle up to the Sherman Tree for alone time. :) I wished we had more time to explore, but it was getting late so we headed back. The views on the way out were just as gorgeous. 

And the setting sun on the drive to dinner was the cherry on top.

4:35 AM

That's the time we all woke up to head to the Rosa Brothers Dairy Farm. 

Holly Rosa had contacted me months ago after I left a message, letting me know they could help me cross off a bucket-list item: milking a cow. We finally found a weekend that would work for us, booked a hotel, and packed up the gang.

We met Mr. Rolland Rosa at the milking barn at 5am. Several milkers were leaving because they had done most of the milking by then. Did you get that? Most of the milking by then. We were at a smaller barn where they care for the cows who may be sick or have just given birth and need some extra TLC. 

They have to milk their 1,000 cow herd every single day, twice a day. That means each cow is milked via machine for 8 minutes. The two Rosa brothers are third generation farmers and still see over each milking as well as the other process to care for the cows.

And because cows get easily spooked, are creatures of habit, and can see almost 360 degrees, they don't usually allow strangers into their area. There's a chance of being kicked and these are huge animals. I was so grateful that they made an exceptional exception to the normal processes they have. 

Mr. Rolland gave me a quick lesson in hand-milking. 

Then he let me go to town for as long as I wanted. :) 

Hand-milking was so much harder than I had expected!! Mr. Rolland's dad and siblings had to milk 11 cows each by hand twice a day when they were growing up. I can not even imagine. Especially based on the five minutes I actually milked. After awhile my hand cramped so then he let me put on the pump machine to see how it works. Quite similar to a human pump, but more vacuum power and has two extra covers. 

 I liked have some background knowledge already about how this whole thing works. ;) There are so many similarities between both Mamas. And much like what I've experienced from nursing, feeding time provides relief. You could tell some of these cows were antsy to get things going!

 W got in on the milking too. He thought the texture of the cow's teat was more rubbery than he expected and the technique was different that he would have expected. He was seriously rocking and rolling by the end. Haha! Much more of a natural than me. ;)

The whole experience was amazing. Our entire gang had a blast and learned so much. You could tell the farm take great pride in caring for their herd {we learned later on the farm tour just how well they do that}. It truly is an amazing operation to gather the 8,000 gallons of milk these cows produce. 

After they milked the last "special needs" cow, we loaded everyone up and went straight back to the hotel for breakfast and a rest. :) We had more adventure to partake in and needed a little bit of shut-eye.  

Art With Lentil // Whittling

In the story, Old Sneep grumbles while whittling on a park bench because he's jealous of Colonel Carter and the town's celebration of his return. 

Whittling is where you carve something into a shape by cutting small slices off it; typically used with a knife and wood or bone. Little kids have most likely not heard of this trade-skill before, if you're pre-scout age that is. So, we gave the boys a chance to whittle using a butter knife and ivory soap. This activity was right up W's alley so we saved it for the weekend so he could teach them in the backyard.

The boys were way too young to really have the fine-motor skills for this, but they thoroughly enjoyed it and W loved being able to instruct them.

E somehow managed to shape his into a gun with random cuts.

They sure loved this art project.