Independence Day!

Today we played as much as possible!  We decorated bikes, swam, had a water balloon fight and, of course, played with fireworks!  This year has been considerably drier than normal for our area.  There have been many brush fires and there was a lot of concern about fireworks.  Fortunately we were still able to enjoy them.  Hopefully they wont decide to ban them completely in coming years.  Carson took a while to warm up to everything; He seemed nervous about everything including sparklers.  By the end of the evening he was playing with them and having a wonderful time.  The loud booms scare him but we were able to borrow a pair of ear covers for him from a friend.  Kayda and Dillon on the other hand lit a lot of the fireworks!  They are so mindful and listen so well to safety directions that we were able to just direct them!

 

 Sneaky Daddy decided to have the kids pose and then drenched them!

 We got each of the kids a parachute.  It was a little windy so we gauged as best we could and lit them off.  We missed.  By a lot.  They went flying off over the neighbors' houses into the green belt never to be seen again.  The kids were really disappointed.

 As always the tanks were a big hit.  Kayda's flipped over almost every time which was exciting for the kids.

 The kids helped with all the clean up throughout the entire celebration!  It was so wonderful!

 

 Hank does pretty well with all the noise but is really in need of snuggles.  So we try to give him extra!

It was a great day!  We are fortunate that the homes around us go big on fireworks so when ours are done we are able to sit and watch the neighborhood light up.  I really hope the fireworks don't get banned.  They are such a wonderful part of the celebration and it would certainly lose a lot of magic without them.

 

Other Summer Going-On's

 Meet Aladdin.  Aladdin is pastured with two dominate Mares, he is the low man on the totem pole.  Dillon met him and fell in LOVE.  He sat there with Aladdin the entire time Kayda, Carson, Katelyn and I were feeding the other horses and getting them water. 

 Kayda got to ride with Katelyn to experience a canter!  She loved it, though she didn't like being behind the saddle much!

 We went and spent an afternoon at a local creek.  It doesn't run too fast and isn't too deep so I brought the kids' tubes.  They got to experience a float for the first time! Kayda and Dillon did it multiple times.  Carson just went for a tiny little float.  Unfortunately I had baby Weston with us so I couldn't help them more to get them more comfortable with it.  They still had a great time though!

 Our recreation department put out a GIANT tarp and sprinklers for the kids last week.  We were able to get there before the crowd got too big.  It took Carson a little while to warm up to it but the kids all had a great time and saw many of their school friends there.

Carson's First Riding Lesson

Carson was SO excited for his turn riding Iceman! 

 

 He went with Katelyn to go get Iceman out of the pasture and then led him over to the stable.

 He picked Iceman's hooves, brushed him and brushed his mane!

Being up that high on a horse was a little scary for him so he wanted me to ride with him.  We rode around until he was done and then Kayda and Dillon took over.  He has since ridden Iceman again and was MUCH more comfortable.  He wont be taking the reins anytime soon but he is getting more and more comfortable around the horses.

To the Lake!

Today we were able to go out on the boat with Grandma and Papa H.  The kids had such a great time with it last year that we wanted to be sure we got at least one trip in!  Carson really struggled at first, the way the boat tilted and bounced scared him.  Dillon, Carson and I ended up getting off the boat after a little while so that Carson could swim around at the shore.  He spent some time there with Me, and then with just Papa (who got in to swim with him)!  After that we went to pick them up so we could eat lunch and Carson was ready to go!  He adjusted to the boat and even went on the inter tube (and was NOT interested in letting anyone else have a turn). Kayda took a couple of rides to warm up; Dillon was ready to go pretty much immediately but they both got to the point that Papa could whip them around in and out of the wake!  Going outside the wake actually turned into their favorite part. When riding with Dillon he chattered non-stop about what his favorite parts were and why!  We were able to stop a few times and swim around the boat, the kids had a blast jumping from it and even Carson got into the fun of swimming in the deep areas.  All the kids braved swimming without life jackets for a little while.  Carson, of course, would swim between the boat and I; but he still swam without his vest! 

I'm so glad that Grandma and Papa H have the boat and are willing to go out with us!  Grandma went swimming with us for a little while and hopefully next time we can get them both in the water with us even more!  Maybe one of these trips we'll get them to hop on the inter tube with one of the kids!