4th of July Weekend

We had such a fun weekend! We met Duane's Uncle Jim, his wife Mary and all of his kids and their families at Marion Reservoir. Duane and his cousin Mitch took Brady and Layton (Jamie and Jamie's) out fishing while Kaela and Kaden (also Jamie and Jamie's) went tubing. I think it is safe to say that a good time was had by all. Layton caught a walleye and was SO excited. Kaela had a ball with her first tubing experience.

On Sunday, we broke out our Big Bertha tube or as I now like to refer to it the "Big Tube of Pain"! I discovered that I am too old for punishment like that. By the time I drove home that evening, I couldn't turn my head to check for oncoming traffic and my ribs are SO sore! Mind you, this is only after one trip on that thing! Here are some pics of Julie, Holly and the kids being flung about. The facial expressions tell it all.

Before calling it a day on Sunday, Brady decided that he wanted to try kneeboarding. Kaden and Layton are already very good, so they showed him how it was done. Jamie gave Brady a lesson and helped him get started. To our surprise, he took off on his first try and he loved it!

Sunny Escapes!

It was inevitable. Almost impossible to avoid. Bound to happen at some point. Sunny the hamster escaped. At 10pm Sunday night, she was getting a workout on her little running wheel. At 8am the next morning, Kaela reported her missing. Of course there was crying and poor Max had to be kenneled practically the entire day, so as not to attack her if he spotted Sunny before we did.

We searched EVERYWHERE, prayed (Kaela for Sunny to be found, me for Sunny to be found ALIVE and SOON before she made a mess of something), set out strawberry and banana bait and finally made a trip to the store for humane mouse traps.

At about 5:30 this morning, I heard something rattling around a plastic Dillon's bag I had left on the floor (FYI, plastic bags are very useful and noisy tools when trying to find very quiet critters!). I flipped on the light, and there she sat. Kaela awoke this morning to a furry surprise and was very relieved. Needless to say, we will be triple checking all cage exits from now on!

Hamsters!

"Mom...can I have a rabbit?" Now, doesn't that make a hamster seem more reasonable? I think our kids are on their way to being masters at negotiation. Ask for the unreasonable (repeatedly) and then nail them with something more reasonable to make the adult feel they have won the battle! HA!

Seriously, they are cute, quiet and pretty easy to care for. The kids love them and are doing a good job of taking care of them. Did I mention that they also had to shell out $50 each of their own savings to buy the cages and critters? (I sprang for the food - feeling generous that day, I guess!)

Kaela named her new pet Sunny. She (?) is a teddy bear hamster. Brady's is a dwarf hamster named Jet. Jet is so small that he isn't able to climb UP the cool tubes that are a part of the cage set up, so we made some modifications and he seems quite happy in his new digs.

We can't forget about our still favorite pet, Max! Had to throw in a picture of him, too. Doesn't he look thrilled? The look on his face tells just how he feels about the 'new additions' to the family.

Feeding the Turtles

A few days ago, we all went for a bike ride and discovered a place here in Hesston called the Dyck Arboretum. I guess we always knew it was here, but didn't know it was so neat! They have a nice walking/biking path around this beautiful pond that just happens to be full of red eared sliders, perch and even a couple of HUGE alligator snapping turtles. Past experience has trained these critters well! The minute the first piece of bread is tossed, they come running (swimming, I should say)! When Mom, Dad, Garret and Tatumn (my brother's kids) came to visit this week, we took them there one morning. Only Brady managed to fall into the pond...this time!

T-ball off to a soggy start

It has been a very wet start to summer around here! We have managed to squeeze in a few t-ball games, though. Kaela plays on a team of 1st and 2nd graders in Moundridge. Unfortunately, they don't have a team for Kindergartners, so Brady plays on a team in Hesston. His team is 5 and 6 year olds, so it is pretty tough to keep the attention spans going, but he has fun playing and that is all that matters. Here are a couple of pics of the kids in action and one of Kaela and her good friend Ellen.

Kicking off our summer

We began our summer vacation with a road trip to Houston right after we were out of school. It is a long drive, but a DVD player always helps with that! We went to see the new addition to Dwight and Lauran's family - McKinley. She is a beauty, just like her sister Hadleigh.



While were were there, Dwight took us out the Brazos Bend State Park. They claim there are more than 600 American alligators living in the park - NOT in cages or pens mind you! We did manage to sneak a peek at a few. I've posted a picture of one that swam out from under the pier we were standing on. Duane guessed it to be about 8 feet long.



There was a nature center at the park as well. They had baby alligators, a snake and even a tarantula that you could touch. Kaela - much to my surprise - pet all three! Brady found a pair of goggles that gave him a "bugs eye view!" Goofball!