This weekend our family piled in our minivan and drove out to Delevan, New York, to Dad’s family farm, Mapledale Farms. We were looking for a change of pace, after only getting into the car 2 times in the past 6 weeks because of COVID-19. Our favorite thing about the farm is all the little goodies we can find in the old barns and silos. We love to try to make the most interesting cart we can, and race it down the gravel roads.

This time, however, the first thing we did was set up our camping chairs and have a pizza party. We didn’t plan very well for this - no plates, napkins, silverware, or chairs! Wait a second, didn’t I just say we sat in our camping chairs? I did! We have a car-top carrier on our minivan, equipped with whatever we will need, based on the season. This weekend we discovered that we had switched to “summer mode.” Out with the skis, and in with the camping chairs!  We carry these around everywhere we go, and when soccer is in session, we bring everything we could ever need for a game in a wagon in the trunk of our van! This works very well; even with our busy schedules, we have everything we need!

After our pizza party, the kids walked around and looked at all the animals. There are goats, chickens and cows, along with the occasional cat wandering around. My favorite animals to watch are the goats. They have a boulder in their pen, and they are constantly fighting over who gets to be on top of it. They fight over everything!

After we looked at the goats, we went for a hike in the lower woods! Our uncle told us about this trail that he had built. He said,”Just follow the horse tracks!” Dad went cowboy mode, and started tracking the horse, “Like in the wild, wild west.” Unfortunately, that will only get you so far. We ended up terribly off track, in the wrong woods entirely! We eventually came out in the right place, after hiking through dense trees, mud, and wild lettuce patches! We came out into the field and saw the horse tracks, clearly going to the other woods. We followed them and got back to our minivan and drove back home. Sometimes, you don’t need to see anyone, or go anywhere super special, to Adventure Boldly.