Easter weekend with the Bell family

We got into Tyler late Thursday night and stayed through late Saturday night. The weather was BEAUTIFUL!!! We couldn't have asked for anything better. It was nice to get to spend some relaxing quiet time with the family, even if there was some scary excitement (see the bottom of the post).

Our cutie pie :)


Allison and Shadow. It's amazing what that cat will put up with...

Coloring Easter Eggs

Mike's kids, Maya and Caleb

Allison coloring eggs for the first time. I'm a bit controlling, so I wouldn't let her do it all by herself :)

The Hunt

Allison had to play on every moving toy that Grandma and Pappy have at the farm

And the most exciting part of the weekend: The Fire

We had finished coloring eggs and had all gone inside to rest and visit. Mike and Jess took their kids and ran to the store, and Allison was down for a nap, so all was quiet at the farm...or so we thought. Mom and Dad had fallen asleep for an afternoon nap and Greg was working on a puzzle, so I thought I'd go outside and clean up the egg coloring mess. I picked up some eggs, then noticed the paper towels had rolled off the porch to the backyard. As I went down to get them, that's when I saw the fire.

Dad had been burning a pile of logs all day with no problem, but at some point it must have sent some embers off or something. I saw black smoke and flames that were about 15-20 feet tall coming from some plastic culverts that Mom had by the burn pile. I ran back inside to my peaceful family and yelled "Dad! Fire! Now!". We all frantically hit the ground running. Mom had to track down where all the garden hoses were (because they still weren't hooked up after the Winter freezes). Mom said she worried most when she saw the flames on the trees; that's when we knew we couldn't do it alone. I ran into the barn and called 911 (for the first time in my life ever), and they said someone was already on the way (a neighbor must've called or something).

None of us took any pictures of the fire since we were a bit preoccupied, so all we really have is the aftermath shot. The firemen said we did a good job getting it out; we had gotten about 1/2 of it down before they got there. The damages: the Weaver's trailer lost all its tires and the wiring got melted, Russ's trailer lost its wheels and the boards are burned from the bottom up, a few pallets that were holding some farm equipment got burned, but I think what Mom will miss most of all is her culverts. She had hunted and hunted for these big plastic "tubes" (about 4 ft in diameter), to use for the Pumpkin Patch so kids can run through and play in them. They didn't come cheap, so they were definitely the biggest loss. Thankfully Dad's new "War Tractor", the 1942 John Deere, was spared. The fire went under and around it, but it didn't get damaged.

The fire went across their property line and almost made it to their neighbors tractor and trailer, so they might get a ticket or have to pay some kind of fine for it. But at least no one was hurt!! Thanks to all the hard work and thinking-on-your-feet of Mom, Dad, Greg, Jess's Dad and myself. How eventful!

Greg helping with the cleanup...Sorry about your trailer Russ