Another Afternoon on the Clearwater

September 12

The kids had such a good time on the river that we decided to do it again.  This time we went to another site with slower water but we brought out the life vests this time.

Again Rufus was in rare form.

We picked up Dash after kindergarten and headed upstream.

The boys were having so much fun.

And the little ones were out cold.

But it didn’t take long before everyone was up and ready for lunch.  Nothing like Cheetos and sandy fingers.

I tried to get the kids to set up for a photo moment to send back to the grandparents who were missing all of the fun.  This was the best we got.

So back to the water for more fun.

I still can’t believe that we were in Idaho in September and we were swimming.  It was in the upper 80s the whole time we were out there.  Very nice weather and great company.

Idaho Vacation

We spent the last week in Idaho visiting my sisters and nephews.  Here are some pictures of just some of our adventures. 

Tuck and Blake on the slide.

Blake, Dash and Tuck watching cartoons in the morning.

Playing on the Clearwater River

Visiting Mandy’s new horse

Riding a friend’s pony

More time on the river.

S’mores

Carnival rides

Hiking along the reservoir

I will have more pictures of each adventure but these will have to do for now.

Feeding the Visitors

Mandy had been saving melon rinds and stale bread from when we got there to feed the resident deer.  You can vaguely see them in the background under the tree.

The kids were all so excited about the deer being so close.

Tucker in action of tossing a bagel.

This is Limpy.  He has been hanging around the neighborhood for at least 3 years now after getting hit; thus the name Limpy.  There is also Momma Deer, Dottie, and Horny.  Dash is very creative in his naming conventions.

The deer were at the house in the middle of the day about every day.  Mandy irrigates the yard so they have a green oasis that all the wildlife come into.  One day we saw about 20 turkeys too.

Tower Construction

Tuck has become quite the engineer.  He spent a whole afternoon working on this tower, building, tearing down and starting again.

 

That last block got him every time.  He was so proud that it was so tall.

And I won’t lie and tell you that Lil’ Sis didn’t knock it down a time or two as well. This is the face of innocence.  RIGHT!???!

Another Tucker Antic

It was water colors.

A Day In The Life of Tucker

We are already having quite the morning so I thought I would just document the day with the random things that the little man is coming up with…

We were sitting down eating our mouse ear pancakes and he was begging to go outside.  I told him “we’ll see”.  He pondered really hard for about 30 seconds, nodded his head and squinted his eyes and told me “me seeing me play outside.”

And after breakfast he disappeared to his room.  He came back wearing this to go outside.

I let him go out thinking it would be so cold that he would realize that it was an inappropriate ensemble but alas, no.  He was content so I had to play bad Mommy and make him come back in.  Once Kora went down for a nap and he changed into pants, we went outside and played some “basket shoots”.  That’s basketball for those of you that don’t speak 3 year old.

Next the house suddenly smelled Mountain Fresh.  I sniffed my way around and tracked down Tucker hiding behind his door with the can of Lysol.  I think he was trying to mask the stench of his stinky pants.  We will be Mountain Fresh for a long time.

He just came out of his room packing his swim trunks claiming he was going outside to go swimming.  It is 38 degrees out there!!!! He is now wearing the trunks and jumping off the couch onto the cushions yelling “Cannonball!!!”

Oh my gosh, as I was typing this I looked over and this is what I saw:

He had completely stripped and is convinced that since the sun is up; it is swimming time. Can you tell these shorts are from last summer?!

Random quotes:

“Turn on the T.D. Mommy.”

“Me no like QBC”

“Ah, a jiggly pillow” in reference to laying his head on my tummy. Rolling of the eyes on my part…

 

I just love this silly boy.  Thank you, Tucker, for making me laugh every day.  You are my star.

The Hazards of Marrying Late

I was looking through pictures this afternoon and ran across some from our wedding.  My cousin, had a hold of the camera and took these photos, unbeknownst to the subjects, I think.  These are all of TJ’s best men.  All of us were well into our 30’s.

I didn’t see these until well after we were home from the honeymoon and they still make me giggle.

This is the reason you should marry when you are young, thin and beautiful.  If I had only known…..

Thanks guys for making our day so much fun.  We love you all.

Rousing Game of Musical Pants

I got home last night and Tuck was not wearing the pants I sent him to daycare in nor were they the backup pants that stay in his cubby in case of accidents.

Here is the story of the mystery pants as relayed this morning from Missy.

After nap, Tuck was the first one on bathroom run.  Missy sends them to the bathroom and they are to get their pants down while she goes back and rolls up their nap mat then comes back to help them get on the potty.  Tuck was being very slow so Henry made it into the bathroom to start the process as well.  Tuck finished up but was still running slow so while Missy was getting a diaper on him and directing hand washing at the sink, Cole came into the bathroom as well. By now she has a pile of pants on the floor from the 3 little boys.  So Tuck grabs a pair and says to Missy "Snaps?".  She snaps them up, sends him back to the play room and proceeds to finish up with the other boys as well.

Skip to pickup time: Henry's dad comes in and says: "Oh no, Henry, did you have an accident?"  Missy replies "No, why?" Henry's dad says "Those are not his pants." and points to the cords on Tucker. So Tucker and Henry swap pants and off Henry goes.  Later TJ picks up Tuck and Kora and just heads out the door (TJ is gone to work in the morning before we are even up so he has no idea what the kids start the day wearing). (Another side note: Missy later tells me that she should have known something was amiss since Tuck never wears cords and Henry almost always does).  Next Cole's Mom comes in and says "Oh no, Cole, did you have an accident?"  Deja Vu!!!  By now Missy is beside herself with confusion because NO ONE HAD ANY ACCIDENTS!

I just had to laugh.  These three boys are peas in a pod; all the same age, all the same size and all still potty training.  And all typical boys who could care less about what they are wearing.

Musical pants; it could really catch on as a party game.