Giving Aunt Kathy the 'Farm Experience'

I wanted Aunt Kathy to have the typical farm experience but I was worried about it being too much of a good thing.  So we tried to balance activities at the farm with visits to town or the big city.

On Kathy's first day I took her on a tour of Greenville.
We stopped for tea at 2Martha's.  We had Raspberry Tea and a tray of sweets which included brownies, cheesecake, cookies and muffins.  I think she liked it although she said her favorite activity of the day was shopping at Buchheit's.  (I think she liked Penelope the pig).  

To balance all the sweetness of our tea, I served Kathy homemade squash soup (made from squash I grew myself), homemade mozzarella sticks (none of this frozen stuff) and chips with homemade salsa (did I mention I grew the tomatoes for this item) for dinner her first night.  I'm not entirely sure but I think this was her favorite meal.  At least it was the first time she ate it.  She liked the squash soup so much and I had so much of it in the freezer and I couldn't think of anyone else who would eat it so I served it to her a few more times during her visit.  

On Saturday, Emily took Kathy on a tour of the woods in the RZR.
Kathy looks like she is enjoying it.  

On Sunday, Laura drove us to south St. Louis to the Apple Butter Festival in Kimmswick.
Over 100,000 visitors come to the small town of Kimmswick each year during the last weekend in October for crafts and food.  The downtown area is closed to traffic and vendors have booths everywhere.  We came to buy crafts and apple butter and that is what we did.  However, even Kathy was glad to leave and return to the quiet of the farm.  

Back at the farm, Aunt Kathy taught Laura to use her new sewing machine.
Laura looks like an attentive pupil.  She made many Christmas presents with Aunt Kathy's supervision.  

Aunt Kathy wanted to visit the Arch.
The good news is that we made it to the top.
The even better news was that we were the only two tourists at the top.
We had the full attention of 1 ranger and 2 arch guides.  

The bad news is that it was a bit foggy.
However, as I told Kathy anybody can go the the arch when it is sunny and clear.
To make it up to her, Mike and I took her to lunch at our favorite Italian restaurant which is on the Hill in St. Louis.

Looking back on Aunt Kathy's visit, I think I did a good job of balancing farm and town activities.  However, now that Kathy has had the 'farm experience' I don't think she needs to experience it again. Maybe next year she and I should take a vacation elsewhere.