Guests: A Fun and Loud Round 2!!

On Monday we welcomed to Tangly Woods Janie and Ryan and their three energetic, creative, curious, and sweet kiddos for the week. We added a 5, 9 and a second 11 year old to our trio of kids. Their kids more or less got out of the car warmed up and ready to interact, and it wasn't but a few moments before Goshen, Starling and Juniper were tearing around with Alida and Terah. Their car wasn't unpacked before we took a spin around visiting all the animals and perusing the gardens. They had made the long journey from Flint, Michigan to visit. We last saw them about 7 years ago and it was double that time since they were living here. Ryan was part of the CJP program as well as working next door at Hickory Hill Farm with Jason. Janie was a colleague of mine at CJP for a few years. We've been in touch sporadically but nothing like multiple days together for great catching up time and a load of fun together! I honestly think it was more concentrated socializing than I have done since Covid started. Who knew you could be bone weary from hanging out and having fun with good friends - I guess those muscles haven't gotten much of a workout for a few years. It was most certainly worth the exhaustion. Below is a smattering of the fun things we packed into our time together (the days are running together in my mind so hopefully I'm slotting things where they belong!

They arrived Monday evening just a bit before the girls arrived home from their playdate with Ivy. As mentioned before the chickens got some immediate attention (i.e. corn!). We enjoyed dinner and diving into an array of catching up things. We also roasted the last of this year's chestnuts! 

We spent all of Tuesday together. What a glorious day! 

I arrived back from a morning walk with a friend and found Ryan and Janie already out in the garlic patch with Jason spreading compost. The next few hours were a beautiful representation of "many hands make light work!" I don't think we ever got beds prepped and garlic planted/covered in just a few hours. By early afternoon it was all in, thanks to some very consistent help and some very sporadic help. At the height of things, we had 10 people in the patch! It was quite the operation!!

All those helpful hands meant that the afternoon slotted for garlic planting was not needed for that. While our tendency/temptation can be to think, "Yay, we can get more stuff done now!," we did not succumb. We packed up kids and snacked and headed off to enjoy the afternoon via a hike to Hensley's Pond with a kite in tow. We swung by Jonathan and Christen's to get our old jogger to assist some kiddos in making it there and back. That jogger has held a lot of kids of many ages since Kali first used it in her infancy!!

These pictures speak for themselves. It was gorgeous, and the kite was a great added touch!

On that day it seemed like some pairing took place - Alida and Juniper are just about 3 months apart. Then Terah and Starling at 7 and 9 really hit it off (Terah showing her hula hooping skills and Starling teaching her how to do a cartwheel). Maybe the most surprising pairing was that Goshen seemed to adore Kali. And Kali has always been amazing with kids and engaging them and making them feel heard and enjoyed. He didn't want to let her out of his sight and jabbered at her pretty much nonstop on the hike back from the pond.

In the evening we were introduced to the incredible versatility of crepes! We got to learn more about the restaurant Ryan is a part of in Flint where crepes are the main deal. We enjoyed pesto chicken cheddar and tomato crepes for our main course and chocolate, butter and pecan dessert crepes. Both were winners and I believe we'll be doing these again!

Finally, for better or for worse, we introduced them to the Netflix show, Is it Cake?, at the end of the evening.

Wednesday they did some of their own stuff out and about but returned in time for us to enjoy a long evening by the fire, making pizza pockets, Jason birthday sausages, Alida's bread that we could shape in various ways and cook over the fire and of course s'mores to top things off. The snow suits all got pulled out for this one as it was COLD! But no one seemed ready to go in for a long time. We were all telling stories about our childhood or recalling funny things our kids have said. 

On Thursday they again had a few other things going on but we wanted to squeeze in a few more food favorites and as much time as we could. So brunch included nutty sweet potato waffles with Tangly Woods chicken sausage and bacon. I got to enjoy some very lively games of Uno with Goshen at the end of the meal when most kiddos had already scattered. 

Then in the evening we watched Because of Winn Dixie while munching on Tangly Woods caramel black walnut popcorn or regular popcorn and freshly candied 2022 ginger. The evening ended with a very energetic dance party for 10!

There was silliness all over the place this week. There were intricate block houses. There was a lot of laughter and screeching and running. There was tree climbing and playing at the swing set. And while much of that is credited to the younger generation, some of us older ones still joined in enthusiastically 

They left this morning! We miss them already.