Millwood with family

The day after Christmas we headed up to Millwood with Nana, Granddad, Aunt Anne and Uncle Brian for a few days. It was great to spend some time with them and to just relax after the hustle of Christmas.

 We worked on a few projects, including turning the front door of the old house into a headboard for Ellie's bed. It needed to be cut down to size, cleaned up, sanded and stained.

 We also put up the zip line we gave the kids for Christmas. It was a definite hit!

 Granddad and Dad made several trips to collect all the bricks at the old house. Hopefully, one day these bricks will make my fire pit.

 We had an oyster roast Friday night which was fun and delicious (for some).

 This one especially - he loves oysters!

 Granddad is starting his training of Ellie's tractor driving early.

 Birdie had a blast and never stopped moving the whole time!

 Everyone loved playing with Aunt Anne and Uncle B!

So, Ellie refused to do the zipline for the first two days. Then, she looked at me on Saturday and said, "I want to do it." Mills and I took her over there and she promptly started crying and screaming about it being scary. I told her she didn't have to do it, but she insisted, through her tears, that she wanted to do it. She was crying the whole climb up and had a pretty good meltdown at the top of the ladder about how scary and high it was. I told her to get down, and we'd try it another time. She kept insisting she was going to do it. I admit to being a bit skeptical - she did have huge tears rolling down her cheeks and she was clearly scared. But she got on the seat and told me to let go. I did and she zipped!! Screaming the whole time too! I really thought I had just scarred her for life and while I was helping her get down at the end, I told she didn't ever have to do it again and hugged her. She looked up at me, tears still streaming, but with a huge smile and said, "I want to that again!"

And she did! Tons of times and eventually the tears were replaced with huge smiles and laughter. I was soo impressed with her determination to do something that so clearly scared her and soo proud of her strong will. Way to go, Chicken Choo!!

We really enjoyed our time at the farm and visiting with everyone. It was nice to to just be together without any schedules or places to be. So glad to be able to share our special spot with family!