On the Farm

Today we went to have a cook out/get together at my dad's house. He runs a dairy farm and the kids all look forward to having a hay ride, going in the hay mow, seeing the cows, etc. It was a lot of fun, but also sort of sad for me. My dad was recently diagnosed with MS - he is 51 which is beyond the age most are diagnosed - so we were pretty shocked in April when he was diagnosed. He is doing well still, but has lost a lot of weight and seems to be walking with a slight limp. It was a little sad today because it might have been our last trip to the farm - my dad simply cannot continue to work 14 hour - sometimes 18hr days in the summer of physical labor with this condition. He has had to change his diet which was a lot of dairy and red meats before to more greens and healthy fair. This is why he is losing a lot of weight - he was always thin to begin with, he burns off those calories working so hard. He is used to eating as much as he wants of high calorie stuff just to keep going - now he cannot do that and he is dropping weight he cannot afford to drop. :(

Anyway it was a good day, all the grandkids had fun. :) Here are a few pictures. Alex, my DS, is the one in the blue shirt and shorts. Katie, my DD, is the little one year old. The other three are my sisters kids - Nikki, Allie, and Dayne.