The very first afternoon that the girls were here – they heard the Amish neighbor’s goats and were very curious! So curious that they sat on the hillside and and watched them for several minutes.

Katie would say “maa – maa – maa!” as loudly as she could and the goats would answer “Maa- maa- maa” from the other hillside.

Then everyone would explode into giggles!

So I decided to stop at the neighbors and ask if they could meet these goats. Cora very graciously said we were welcome to come out after nap time. The girls were very excited!

I thought it would be a short trip, we’d see the animals and pet them and head home. But it turned into something much bigger!

Katie fell in love with the baby goats – even tried to kiss one! We all giggled when the goat ate her hair instead! Then we walked over to the barn where the big goats were. (This was so exciting for Katie – she had been talking about “see barn” ever since she arrived!)

While we were there, one of the Amish girls came in and asked if we would like to see her feed the goats? YES!

She then feed the big goats, and we followed her while she feed the baby goats, the calves, and the horses.

She was rewarded with some very special smiles, many excited comments and lots of giggles.

Then she offered to hitch up the pony cart and give the kids a ride! I wish I could have captured the looks on their faces as they rode off – but we wanted to respect the Amish belief in no photographs.

Trust me – they were shining!

Then we all tromped into another barn and watched her milk Susie the cow. The kids were quite impressed that Susie did not always obey and had to be spanked on the bottom.

They stamped their feet and pointed at her and said “Naughty cow!”

Annie told us, “I show my Daddy how to milk cow.” Then she pretended to milk a little, stopped to pat the pretend cow and said “Move over Susie!”

And Emie giggled.

There were kitties all over to chase and and something new to look at around every corner.

When the milking was done, the kitties got fed some of the warm milk.

Emie looked up at me with her eyes shining and said “Kitties dinking!” and giggled.

God bless our wonderful Amish neighbors! What a special memory this will be!