sunny has this thing where he grumbles low in his throat "big one big one." he does it when he means something is really really big - i guess the growling adds emphasis? anyway, it sounds hysterical, and we do it back to him all the time.
last sunday we went out to the christmas tree farm in elgin. i lie to myself and say that it's only 40 minutes away, but really, people, it's a full hour. which is a long time in the car with two little ones who have no concept of time other than "too long." "almost there" does absolutely no good, because you are not actually there yet.
it was a beautiful texas day in december, which is to say, almost 80 and sunny. people were out tree shopping in tank tops and flip flops. it's as bad as arizona!
i love this little tree farm. it is totally mom and pop, but during the tree season it must employ half of the population of elgin, which is really tiny and rural.
they have a few animals up front in pens - a pig, some rabbits, some chickens (sunny is both fascinated by and terrified of chickens, something i can't understand at all, because i grew up with them running around in the backyard- i can't see anything sinister about them, no matter how hard i try), goats, a llama, and a large old tolerant horse who will let you tickle his whiskery chin. and this was the first time sunny has really been interactive with the animals, so it was great fun.
they take you back through all of the trees in "hay rides" - flat bed trailers hooked up to various tractors. but the one sunny wanted was the one he saw pulling away as we walked up to the "tractor stop" - a "big one big one" old school green john deere with not one but TWO trailers hitched to the back. this tractor was the one and only thing that mattered to my son the entire rest of the trip. forget looking for trees (although he did have a preference - whenever jon and i would find one we liked, he would inevitably say NOT THAT ONE, THIS ONE - and point to a neighboring tree which always had some obvious defect - large bare spots, crooked trunks, or, once, 9 feet tall). all he wanted to do was hunt down that big tractor. so after we cut our tree (oh how i love this whole process!!) we went walking around the farm to find this tractor - so sunny could ride his fill. i'm sure it all made perfect sense in his 2-year-old mind, which i'm convinced gives new meaning to the word "one-track."
this excellent place also has a little playground and a sand pit filled with - you guessed it - toy trucks and tractors with trailors. we stayed until the sun went down and everyone was packing up. they turned off the crazy tree shakers (if you've ever been christmas tree cutting, you know what i mean) and packed up the hot sausage stand (i kid you not), and we topped off our day with watching the baby goats jump all over this play structure they had in their pen. one even jumped on top of the llama and stood there for several minutes, much to his chagrin.
all in all, a perfect wacky day with my family. and now we have our crisp smelling tree lit up in the living room, and i'm convinced that 40 minutes is not too far away to drive next year. ;)
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