Four Generations of Apollos
My mom came to visit for the weekend and we headed down to Fredonia, Kansas (small town in Southeast Kansas) to visit family! My mom grew up in Fredonia and much of my family still lives close! My Aunt and Uncle were kind enough to host us (THANK YOU!) We had a WONDERFUL visit catching up with the family and spending lots of time with the little man! :)
Great Grandpa's boy
When we were little we used to spend LOTS of time in Fredonia playing with our cousins and running around on our grandparents farm! My grandpa is likely one of the nicest, patient men you'll ever meet! See number 6 below!
Meeting Mitchell's Mommy's, Mommy's Mommy
We also took Mitchell to visit my late grandma. She has been gone almost 10 years now and we miss her dearly.
She gave the best hugs! :)
Top ten Fredonia memories
TEN
My grandpa always took us with him to "help" him feed his cattle in the mornings. When dropping off hay, he'd put his truck in neutral and let it glide through the field while he dumped the hay out of the back. Although he needed no real help, he'd ask us to "drive" for him. It seemed like such an important job to us!
NINE
My grandpa would take us to the livestock auctions with him on Tuesdays. Our great uncle Leonard was always there too, and he'd buy us a snack and a pop. We thought it was kind of like a circus with animals coming in and out. Good thing we didn't realize their fate at the time!
EIGHT
I'm sure my mom packed us plenty of pajamas for our trip, but we always loved wearing my grandpa's undershirts to bed! I'm struggling to remember the specifics now, but he had several that said something like "I'm a country boy" on them. We'd sift through his undershirt drawer until we'd find the exact one to put on after bath time. I also "borrowed" a pink and white striped nightshirt from my grandma once. It was so soft! I wore it to bed and then tried to convince my grandpa that I could put a belt around it and wear it to the Tuesday cattle sale the next day! He didn't go for that one! It might be the only time he's ever told me no! I still wear the nightshirt. It's torn and tattered, but I still think of them everytime I put it on. :)
SEVEN
My grandma's cooking! She was an amazing cook! My personal favorites were her "tiger" pancakes with white karo syrup and her sugar cookies. Yum!!! The best part about making cookies with my grandma was that she NEVER yelled at you for eating the dough!
SIX
At ~12 years of age, I decided to "style" my grandpa's horse's mane by cutting it bangs. I mean bangs were all the rage, what? My grandpa didn't even get mad!
FIVE
If we weren't playing on my grandparents farm, there were two other places you could find us....1. my cousin's trampoline 2. the Fredonia pool. I could not even tell you how many hours we must've spent at each! If only I had a $1 for every "crack the egg" game that we played!
FOUR
I LOVED playing in their barn! They had a big barn swing that seemed to stretch from one side of the barn to the other! It was so fun to kick your feet up in the air and lean your head back to dangle your head down and pretend you were a trapeze artist! I also distingly remember grandpa parking his truck filled with soybeans in the lower level and letting us jump off the 2nd floor and land in the soybeans! So fun!
THREE
Have I ever told you that I am directionally challenged? As the oldest grandchild, my grandma asked me to take my younger cousins on a walk to the nearby garden. I went the wrong way and ended up getting the whole gang stuck in a muddy field! We played search and rescue for our shoes that were stuck in the sunken mud and struggled to get everyone back to dry ground. My grandma certainly had "words" with me upon my return! We were all stripped down and bathed in a big metal bucket in the front yard.
TWO
We took lots of fishing trips! My grandpa stocked his pond at the Southplace with fish. We even got to take the little boat out on it now and then. We were sure to be COVERED in ticks upon our return!
ONE
Fredonia is the county seat of Wilson county and they hosted the County Fair and Rodeo each summer. We ALWAYS planned to be in Fredonia that week! Although we loved the fair, the Rodeo was the highlight of our summer! We LOVED it all - the barrel racing, bare back riding, bull riding, clowns and most of all the event where they tied ribbons on the back of calves and the kids chased them around to try to get the ribbons. Each ribbon earned you a brand new crisp $1 bill! My sister got one once....oh, I was so jealous :)
TEN
My grandpa always took us with him to "help" him feed his cattle in the mornings. When dropping off hay, he'd put his truck in neutral and let it glide through the field while he dumped the hay out of the back. Although he needed no real help, he'd ask us to "drive" for him. It seemed like such an important job to us!
NINE
My grandpa would take us to the livestock auctions with him on Tuesdays. Our great uncle Leonard was always there too, and he'd buy us a snack and a pop. We thought it was kind of like a circus with animals coming in and out. Good thing we didn't realize their fate at the time!
EIGHT
I'm sure my mom packed us plenty of pajamas for our trip, but we always loved wearing my grandpa's undershirts to bed! I'm struggling to remember the specifics now, but he had several that said something like "I'm a country boy" on them. We'd sift through his undershirt drawer until we'd find the exact one to put on after bath time. I also "borrowed" a pink and white striped nightshirt from my grandma once. It was so soft! I wore it to bed and then tried to convince my grandpa that I could put a belt around it and wear it to the Tuesday cattle sale the next day! He didn't go for that one! It might be the only time he's ever told me no! I still wear the nightshirt. It's torn and tattered, but I still think of them everytime I put it on. :)
SEVEN
My grandma's cooking! She was an amazing cook! My personal favorites were her "tiger" pancakes with white karo syrup and her sugar cookies. Yum!!! The best part about making cookies with my grandma was that she NEVER yelled at you for eating the dough!
SIX
At ~12 years of age, I decided to "style" my grandpa's horse's mane by cutting it bangs. I mean bangs were all the rage, what? My grandpa didn't even get mad!
FIVE
If we weren't playing on my grandparents farm, there were two other places you could find us....1. my cousin's trampoline 2. the Fredonia pool. I could not even tell you how many hours we must've spent at each! If only I had a $1 for every "crack the egg" game that we played!
FOUR
I LOVED playing in their barn! They had a big barn swing that seemed to stretch from one side of the barn to the other! It was so fun to kick your feet up in the air and lean your head back to dangle your head down and pretend you were a trapeze artist! I also distingly remember grandpa parking his truck filled with soybeans in the lower level and letting us jump off the 2nd floor and land in the soybeans! So fun!
THREE
Have I ever told you that I am directionally challenged? As the oldest grandchild, my grandma asked me to take my younger cousins on a walk to the nearby garden. I went the wrong way and ended up getting the whole gang stuck in a muddy field! We played search and rescue for our shoes that were stuck in the sunken mud and struggled to get everyone back to dry ground. My grandma certainly had "words" with me upon my return! We were all stripped down and bathed in a big metal bucket in the front yard.
TWO
We took lots of fishing trips! My grandpa stocked his pond at the Southplace with fish. We even got to take the little boat out on it now and then. We were sure to be COVERED in ticks upon our return!
ONE
Fredonia is the county seat of Wilson county and they hosted the County Fair and Rodeo each summer. We ALWAYS planned to be in Fredonia that week! Although we loved the fair, the Rodeo was the highlight of our summer! We LOVED it all - the barrel racing, bare back riding, bull riding, clowns and most of all the event where they tied ribbons on the back of calves and the kids chased them around to try to get the ribbons. Each ribbon earned you a brand new crisp $1 bill! My sister got one once....oh, I was so jealous :)
4 comments:
Oh, I loved reading this! What wonderful childhood memories! Ryan and I used to spend parts of our summer and winter vacation (usually when my parents went on their own vacations!) at our grandparents' farm in Canton. It was a big adventures for kids from the "city." They didn't have any farm animals (just cats and dogs), but I remember fishing and exploring and one very eventful wintertime sledding adventure! Oh, and one county fair where a steer got loose and charged grandma. . .that made the paper!
Fredonia, KS! My best friends family is all from there...the Carvers. Neat memories. I have been wanting to take a weekend trip to stay with my Grandpa...and this was great encouragement to do so :)
I went to school with Shelda Carver. Is that the same family?
I've forgotten her mothers name. She was our highschool counselor.
Grandma
Yes, Pat :) Shelda Carver Burger was who I was referencing. She is also a highschool guidance counselor. Small world!
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