Almost Camping

A few weeks ago we took a little trip out to the wilderness.  Ordinarily we would have planned better and gone when it wasn't raining, but we didn't really have a choice.  On May 18th Carter and Landon went fishing and Henry and I stayed home.  We took Mesa for a walk around town and then headed to Nashua to Pege Sue's Posies for some annuals for my Grandpa Barrel and for a pot for Carolyn's headstone.  Mesa hopped in the car and went with us.  Pege Sue's Posies is at a farm yard, or ranch, and they always have dogs running around so we let Mesa out to explore while we wandered.  Peggy and I headed out back to look at some ornamental grasses and found Mesa laying on the ground.  She must have had a heart attack or stroke and died.  But what a place to go-a greenhouse.  Sounds like a good place to me.

 October 6, 2001 - May 18, 2013

 

Mesa loved to explore with us so we thought it was most fitting to bury her near one of her favorite places.  I threw together some camping/picnic food and a few necessities and we headed here...

 It was a little rainy, but nothing a coat couldn't handle.  Landon didn't have any matches or a lighter so we had to get creative and use the stove to get a fire going.  

They are already drawn to fire.  It must be a boy thing.

 We had dinner in the rain.

 Off to explore.

 Daddy had too many s'mores and got a little crazy with the boys.

We have plans to head back out and do some real camping in a couple weeks.  It will be our first time in the wilderness overnight.  Wish us luck.

My Kind of Heart Attack

Hmmm, Now What?

The boys were playing with this castle tent in the back yard one morning.  We had a slight breeze, but no real 'wind'.  Then a gust came out of nowhere, lasting less than a minute.  But in that minute the wind took the tent, which was right in front of where I'm standing, into the fence to the back and right of the deck and then into the power lines, complete with sparks, and into the tree.  Then tent probably traveled 100 yards by the time it got stuck in the tree.  We lost power but the CoOp guys were on it and we had power less than an hour later.  Luckily, the wind picked up little after the big gust and blew the tent out of the tree and into the other neighbors yard.  Unfortunately, the tent had too much damage and it is out in the garage in the "I hate to throw it away because they just got it, but it's damaged and they probably won't play with it anymore" pile.

Picasso

Just some afternoon craft time.

Our First Taste of Farm Life*

A month ago a regular customer came into the lumberyard and had these little twins along for the ride.  Their Momma didn't product any milk so they were bottle feeding them.  We took a trip out to the farm one afternoon so the boys could have a chance to feed them and play with them.

 They were about two weeks old when we saw them and they were already pets.

This is Kaitlin, the adoptive Mom.  I'm not sure which one of the lambs this is.  This picture was taken a week ago, you can see they don't mind being around humans at all.

*I know that farmers grow things in dirt and ranchers have animals, but around here farmers ranch and ranchers farm.

Landon's Mini Me

Carter tries to be like Landon ALL THE TIME.  Tonight he needed to comb his hair.  I don't think Carter has ever seen Landon comb his hair.  However, he did a pretty good job for not having much of a role model in that category.

Carter's Band Aid Mustache

It always cracks me up when kids want band aids on their mouth or eyes.  Carter was messing around in the garage, standing on a cooler, and lost his balance and bounced his face off the garage floor.  He had a fat bloody lip and a little scrape above his eye, but he was fine later in day, when it was time to go fishing.

Easter in Watford City

We went to Watford City for Easter, and did all the usual Easter fun.

Henry waiting to go to church. 

 Landon waiting to go to church.

Yay!  We made it through church.

A Day at Home With Dad

Over the weekend the stars aligned perfectly...

 We ended up with 7 inches of wet snow with 30 degree weather, making the roads nearly impassable.
The regular babysitter had planned to take the Monday off.
Carter woke up with a cough and snot, making it unacceptable to take him to the back up sitter, AKA Grandma Sue, since she is headed out of town soon and can't risk a cold.
Kristie and Taylor were both stuck in Billings and couldn't cover for me at work, on payroll day.

So, Landon stayed home with the boys so I could creep to work in the truck at 35 mph to make sure everyone got paid.

It was warm enough this afternoon to get outside and make a fort.  Landon said Carter supervised while Henry ate snow.  I think Landon had the most fun.  I can't wait to see what they build when they are a little older and want to help.

Henry wasn't very happy about taking a picture and just wanted some "Momma" since I was gone all day.  I was only home for a few minutes before having to leave again for a Town Council meeting.  When I got home the boys were quietly playing in Henry's room while Landon made calls to the firemen about training.  Then we heard a few thuds.  I figured they were just trying to get to the bottom of the toybox...

NOPE!

I tried to put the shelves back in so they could start picking up but the little stinkers even went as far as taking the shelf pegs out and putting them into different holes.  At least they didn't empty the closet.

Other than coming home to this disaster, the house was cleaned up, including the inside of the fridge, which I hate to do.  

New Hair Cuts

No more curls for this little man.  At least not for a few more months.

Henry is usually the kids that never sits still, unless he's getting his hair cut.  Then he just sits and enjoys the attention.  Today Carter was the kid that wouldn't sit still.  Maybe he can't sit still because there is so much to learn, so many questions to ask, so many things to look at.  It probably doesn't help that the hairdresser is also known as Aunt Kristie and not a stranger that might cut his ear off if he makes one wrong move.