adventures.fulfilled | vol. 4, part 1 | Hill Top Farm

And finally the last installment!!

On our way home from Michigan we stopped at the 100th family reunion of my Mama's side of the family where we saw her parents. They were talking about Jonathan going home with them to help my Grandpa with the hay {we always do these things last minute!} and I suddenly realized that I hadn't been to visit them in over four years. Yeah I'd seen them and even been to their farm but I hadn't had the opportunity to stay with them like I used to when I was younger. So then I thought, "but why couldn't I go now? If I don't go now, it most likely won't happen for a very long time. And now's as good as ever cause I don't have anything I need to be home for." My grandparents were quite surprised with my proposal -after all it'd been over 4 years- but immediately they were totally okay with it! {they're awesome like that!}

We stopped at Kewpees after we left the reunion. It's a little hamburger joint in northern Ohio {there are only 3 locations I believe} that's been there so long that my GREAT-grandfather {or grandpappy I guess!} used to eat there. It was my first time though and my grandparents were pretty bent on "giving me the experience"! haha I started ordering one burger and immediately Grandma buts in, "no, she wants two--", and turning to me,  "you have to have one for the road, honey! we always get two!" It definitely beats Micky D's or any other fast food burger joint and their malts... are what Wendy's  frosties were when I was little! Thick and perfect! At their original store, the parking lot is so small {10-15 cars} that they used to have a turntable at the end. When you wanted to leave you'd pull onto the turn-table, they'd hand crank you around and then you'd pull out! {Please don't ask me why they have a naked baby as their mascot or w/e! I never learned that story!}

Edit: I just googled it which sent me to Wiki-- apparently it's because the restaurant was named after the Kewpie doll {read more about the restaurant here}

It wasn't until we were in their jeep headed home to Hill Top Farm that I found out how super perfect timing my visiting them was. Such a God thing! Some how everyone but I had known that the next day my Grandma was going in for cataract surgery and really needed someone to take care of her, my Grandpa and the house for a few days. 

They live in a cozy but spacious log cabin which they built themselves {with the help of the amish} either before I was born or when I was still really young {obviously I don't remember it!}.  It's situated on the top of a hill in southern Ohio {hence the name, Hill Top Farm} in the middle of Amish country. 

The weather ended up being absolutely sweltering and too hot to work in  during the week we were there so the guys spent more of their time indoors than usual. But Johann helped me by cleaning out the fridge one day. Grandma let me attack her half bath, pantry, kitchen drawers, cupboards, counters and utensil crocks... cleaning them out, purging and reorganizing. She was so awesome about it all week! Both Johann and I have always loved doing those things so in many ways it didn't seem like 'work'. {Funny side story: When we were little and would go grocery shopping in Kroger or Walmart, there were so many times where we almost got left behind because we were sitting in the Jello aisle organizing all the jello boxes in their bins!}Next time we go we'll be burying ourselves in that laundry room of hers;)

After way too many phone calls to internet service providers and lots of research, we finally got them highspeed internet access way out in the boonies via an internet card! The jump from dial-up to that internet card was amazing! As my grandpa kept saying, they used to type in the web address, then eat lunch and do the chores before coming back and it'd still be loading! {okay, maybe not that slow-- we were all exaggerating some but it really *was* slow. You could at least go pee and make your bed before it'd be loaded} Oh and we also got a laptop purchased for them while we were there! There was one time when I never thought I'd see the day when my Grandpa would buy a cell phone, much less get rid of his landline or buy a computer much less a laptop! But I'm glad to see he's taking it a little easier and not running the farm as hard as he used to.

One of Grandma and Grandpas favorite things is to just get in the car and drive... exploring and never knowing where they'll end up. I think this comes from Grandpa's years with the Ohio Power Company when he drove all over the state for jobs. One night Grandpa asked Johann and I, "want to go for a drive and find some dinner?!" And thinking he meant driving into town {45 minutes away} we said sure! 2 1/2 hours later we stopped at the Ohio/West Virginia line for some burgers! phew! But we'd seen some gorgeous hilly countryside, driven past places they go to listen to BlueGrass in the winter and heard so many stories from Grandpa's years with the Ohio electric company. {It only took us 1 1/2 hours to get home... we must've taken the *very* scenic route there! haha}

They also love mom and pop restaurants and after raving about them, took us to a few during our visit:)

Old Nellie

One of the amish rockers on the front porch where we'd sit at night

This is *the* swing to spend your evenings on

They've got just one barn cat now {it used to be several}, a black lab {Squirt}, a ferocious black rooster and a passel of hens

The two cows are named Sir Loin and Chuck Roast {The first two they had were named John and Deer and for the next three {which will be angus steer} we've discussed naming them Adam, Hosse and Little Joe:)}

Grandpa's antique tractor... the one he used to farm with when I was little. Now he's got a fancy shmancy one that does the trick.

It was such a great week. I'm so thankful Jesus blessed us to go and be able to do so much for my grandparents and spend so much time with them!