The day after I got back from Black Sheep Gathering in June my granddaughter started her visit with us. She had traveled to California from Texas with her other grandparents who live nearby and was with them for the first week. Since then she has mostly been here, but visited in town with the other grandparents and cousins periodically. Kirby was eight when she got here but had her ninth birthday last week during the fair.

It has been seven weeks that Kirby was here with us. I wrote about some of our adventures in previous posts, but most of the time was spent here at the farm.

Kirby had a birthday party with her cousins at the other grandparents’ house and got plenty of presents. But last week a birthday present came from Aunt Kaleena and Uncle Matt. It was a box of three Squishmallows. She had received one from her Great Grandmother a few days before. Kirby was thrilled. I was amused at how she used books and boxes and cloth napkins and towels to set up a dining table for the Squishmallows. She found small dishes in the kitchen and fed them all lettuce with ranch dressing. She spent quite a bit of time feeding them and the next couple of nights brought them to the dinner table to share her dinner.

It’s a good thing there is a queen size bed so they all could fit.

Matt told Kirby that if she left one here when she went back home he would take it on adventures for the rest of the summer and send her pictures. Matt supervises air attack watches over wildfires from the air so we will all look forward to hearing about these adventures.

The time came for Kirby to return home. It was a long wait while her dad was on the road.

We got in a couple more walks across the road.

She spent time with her favorite sheep. They are everyone’s favorites because they are so tame. That’s Jade in the middle. Her daughter, Hazel is near the gate and Hazel’s 2023 lamb, Harry, is in front. Harry was turned into such a pet by Farm Club members that I made him a wether. Kirby picked all the leaves she could reach to give them treats.

Even the goat, who can be somewhat intimidating, got goodbye scratches.

Hazel and Jade were joined by Lavender.

Now Harry is back in the mix.

A last hug for Jade.

Alice, one of the family dogs, made the trip from Texas.