Ingram the Conqueror: Saturday and Sunday January 26th and 17th, Running From The Fever!

We're still stuck with Madison's fever so now we're taking drastic measures...we're leaving town and hoping that the fever can't find us. We packed up the car with Ingram's little 4-Wheeler and with our own 4-legged Beau and headed for the farm. We got there before dark and were able to unload the car and have some fun before bedtime. And if you know anything about being at the farm, there are no clocks so bedtime can be pretty late!

We rode the 4-wheelers checking out as much of the land as we could before it was too dark. We put Beau in his crate while we rode at night just to make sure we didn't lose him; someone in this household would be very upset if we lost him! Also, at the farm is so much land and targets that we all just have to shoot a gun of some sort; I think it's part of the "Farm Handbook" that still has never been seen. I remember doing the same thingwith my sister when we were little and I guess some things never change. The only one that didn't shoot the gun this weekend was Lindsey, but she shot it Monday when she and Ingram were there with Craig.

Sunday morning, Daddy took his girls out early in the morning to watch the deer come out from "Aunt Amye's Forts" as they have been named. Even though Uncle Len, Pops, Brett, and Carley all use the tree stands, Lindsey named all of them Aunt Amye's Forts and I'm sure the name will stick for years to come! The funny thing about the three of them going out to watch the deer was that they really would make the worst hunters in so many aspects. Madison pretty much summed it up when she said that they weren't going to see any deer this morning because they were doing pretty much all the "no no's" in hunting. Madison had on bright blue pants, Lindsey had on a bright pink coat, they were all talking and giggling, and they all smelled like people. But, they had so much fun and even managed to stay a little warm too.

We shot the targets again and rode the 4-wheelers before the hunger really set in; we didn't have any food at the cabin so we headed into town for a late breakfast and ate at The Country Kitchen where it was obvious we weren't locals. Our kids don't have a "low" on their volume control and it was comical trying to explain to them over and over that we were in a small restaurant and they didn't need to talk for everyone to hear. Next we drove around the entire property on the 4-wheelers and ended up on a little spot in the land that we hope to build on one day. The kids really loved being at the farm and Beau definitley loved it too. During the daylight hours, he went everywhere we did and most of the time he was running right along the 4-wheelers with us. Only once did we need to pick him up so that he wouldn't get hurt going through some really thick brush.

Now there were also times when he was running without being next to the 4-wheelers and we almost lost him a time or two. Luckily, my Suburban made it where other trucks couldn't and we were able to find him. He never was lost, but instead he was just chasing the trail of the 4-wheelers that left him behind or really chasing his Lindsey that had left him. Another time, Craig took Madison down the path to shoot the 22 and Beau followed them without them knowing; when they were coming back, they decided to see how fast Beau could run and they got up to 22 mph on the 4-wheelers and he was right there running beside them. Once we got back home, Beau didn't move much after his bath and slept in his bed for the rest of the night.

So we had hoped to leave Madison's fever behind, but we're pretty sure it came with us to the farm unvited. We had so much fun in the fresh air that we didn't worry about it too much. Plus, we didn't take our thermomater with us so we wouldn't officially know if it was back or not and let Madison do as much as she wanted and she took it easy some too. She acted great the whole time we were gone and had fun, but the second we got back and checked her temperature, we knew that it had never left. She ended up crawling in her bed around 7pm and when we checked on her a few minutes later, she was already asleep. Needless to say, we know she was worn out because even the racket of getting Lindsey and Ingram to bed didn't wake her up at all.