A Ranch Birthday....

Last Saturday I celebrated another birthday.....

The Farmer took charge...and planned a birthday party for me at "The Ranch"....

also known as Escondida.  The Ranch has been in the family for many many years...and The Farmer

has many great memories of his childhood at this Ranch...

It is a place the family LOVES to gather, especially the kids...at the suggestion of a Ranch trip....

the kids go wild!  They love to ride their 4-wheelers there, fish there, and cook steaks over

an open fire.  They never tire of trips to The Ranch!

The Farmer made all the plans...he prepared all the food...and we loaded the truck and

headed for The Ranch...only when we arrived to the first gate...(there are many gates...)

the keys didn't fit.  They were the only set of keys we had...luckily another set was on the way.

In the meantime some young nephews of mine decided that there was no reason to wait...they

would just take the fence apart enough for the motos to drive through....and so they went to work.

After just a couple of minutes the motos began to pass through the fence....one by one....and

then those nephews rebuilt the fence....climbed on their motos and headed for the next gate.

We were left behind, because the truck wasn't about to fit through the opening in the fence.

Very shortly Uncle Dan...owner of The Ranch....showed up

with another set of keys and off we went.

The Ranch was just beautiful!  Enough rain has fallen that it is green and lovely.

Although the day was very hot...there was just enough water in the stream to keep the kids

cool and occupied.

The Farmer carefully prepared steaks for everyone...he actually prepared the number of steaks of

the birthday I was celebrating...haha!  They all got eaten except for 5...which he brought

home to enjoy later.  He also made quesidillas over the fire...YUM!!

We enjoyed cold watermelon...and some tasty cake that Aunt Shauna was nice enough

to make for the whole gang.

The best part was just sittin and visiting under the shade of a tree...while the kids

played in the water.  The Sun ended up behind a cloud or two...which really helped with the heat

of the day....along with a light breeze.

It was close to the perfect afternoon!

Who knew that such a small amount of water would bring so much

joy to a group of kids;)

It was a wonderful day!  Very well planned by The Farmer himself!

He gave me a very special gift this year...the gift of a Grateful Heart....and a very tender expression

of it.  A gift I won't soon forget!  Thank to The Farmer for a perfect day!!