Colton's love of the game

Tyler couldn't wait until our boy was old enough to play ball... and finally, the time has come! He has had a couple practices, and seems to be doing really well. Tyler says he is really good at ground balls... I really don't know much about the game. I did watch Moneyball last night. Brad Pitt is so dreamy.

Anyways, I digress.

I think we have a ballplayer. 

Or a pilot.

Or a aeronautical engineer.

It is yet to be determined exactly.

Their First Camping Trips

Soren's first:: Lake Coleman, TX, April 2012

Kellen's first:: Dickey Lake, MT, May 2010

Ayla's first:: Flathead Lake, MT July 2008 with the McFarlanes

Ayla! Look how much she looks like her brothers! And those teeth!

Colton's first:: Raven Ridge (?), NC, October, 2007

Colton again... so cute!

We have had such fun taking these guys camping as young as we can! Ayla was by far the oldest, being about 10 months old on her first trip! Can you believe that! Jill, we had a lot of fun on that camping trip too! I believe it was 4th of July.

And Colton... it was so different only having one child camping... it has definitely gotten more kid oriented as time has gone on, whih is great, because what kids don't like camping?! And playing in the dirt and making forst and throwing rocks!? I really hope we continue to camp for the rest of our lives!

Camping, Texas stye, part 2

Raccoon (?) visitors... at least we put our breakfast food away! I was worried about our bananas all night!

Morning at the Gustafson camp

Tractor building... does anyone remember Tyler and Colton's old construction site building? It has totally renewed Colton's interest in tractors and such.

I'm having fun messing with the buttons on my camera. Love the tent in the background here... and of course, his cute little face :)

5, 6, Pick up sticks... for the tractor buildings.

Love these red tenny's! And the boy who sports them.

Pretty proud of his creations.

Camping is fun... and I am so glad we can do this with our kids. We are thoroughly looking forward to camping in June with our good friends from Montana. We are headed to Idaho, at a good rock climbing place, so Tyler will be in heaven... and we will have good friends and hopefully good weather.

After that trip, on our way to Astoria, Oregon, we will hopefully be camping with Aunt Danielle and Uncle Loren and the three Veneta based cousins at Crater Lake. Amazingly, I have never been there, and Tyler only has been once, and he doesn't really remember... so that will be great!

The visitors were most likely raccoons, and they just took our garbage bag down and ate all the scraps out of it... those sneaky rascals! We welcomed the early morning light with some hot chocolate and oatmeal... one of our breakfast staples while camping.

We will be looking for some more campgrounds in the semi vicinity of here to make some more wonderful family memories! 

Camping, Texas style, Part 1

Happy baby's first camping trip

T-R-O-U--B-L-E!!

 

The woes of the oldest child:: helping out.

This was Soren's resting spot... he played content there for awhile!

The A&W Rootbeer ad... I LOVE this sequence!

Going to the Lake... Kellen didn't want to leave.

.... mostly because he couldn't get enough of throwing rocks in the lake!

Aren't they adorable?!

And the truck parked at the campsite...

We had such a fun time camping this Saturday. We are campers, but last year, we didn't camp once because of the move and being pregnant all summer. But we vowed to camp, even though we were in Texas this year. So we decided to try it out at Coleman Lake, which is about 45 minutes south of Abilene. We headed out of town at 2pm, thinking we'd be there by 3! Little did we know that we actually couldn't trust the map we had! We ended up on a county road (we knew where we were, we just couldn't get to the lake!) and finally we flagged down a car (because at the two gas stations we asked, the cashier's had no clue, and no one that we knew that would know answered their cells!), and he told us the way. After he shook his head, and said "How'd you get way out here?" Ha ha!

So we made it to the lake by 530! ha.... we joked that we should have driven to Austin! Anyways, we knew camping was going to be different in Texas... and it is. The beauty we had come to know and love in Montana was not replicated, that is for sure! But we made due.

We set up camp (Tyler set up camp, and I held a baby), we ate dinner, we made smores, had a talent show (so cute, and a definite tradition was started!), looked at some stars and headed to bed. It was great.

And then in the middle of the night, Ayla, who had been coughing a lot, needed more water, so Tyler went to the truck to get more. He comes back and says, "Looks like we had visitors."

More tomorrow or the next day. I hope to put up pics of all the kids first camping trips this week too!

Hope everyone had a great weekend, and Earth day. PLEASE tell me that you did something good for our wonderful planet!

97- 106 pictures (April 6- April 15)

97'366:: He loved laying in the grass... especially when Sofa, the cat, joined him

98'366:: I just LOVE the looks on their faces. Priceless.

99'366:: For some reason, I just love the light in this picture. And of course the little foot too :)

100'366:: Isn't his sweater adorable? Looks like a cute little fireman... courtesy of Grammy Roxanne!

101'366

102'366:: One of my all-time favorites.

103'366:: This kid has a genuine, homegrown mohawk!

104'366:: Vampire?

105'366:: Pure happiness

106'366:: A boy and his ball

Around here::

Ayla is now registered for pre-kindergarten here in Texas... and she couldn't be more excited. Of course, it took 5 HOURS this morning to register her?!!! Seriously, it was madness! Thanks Linda, for keeping me company :)

Colton starts tee-ball practice tomorrow, so he is pretty excited.

And to gear up for his first sport, he joined me in a mile run today... this kid has stamina... and says he enjoys running. So cute. A boy after my own heart. We just purchased new running shoes for both him and Ayla (and myself), and Colton proudly puts his on specifically to run. And I honestly believe he will start running circles around me in the near future.

He says "Maybe tomorrow, just me and you can go for a run tomorrow, Mom. And when I start getting faster than you, then me and Daddy will go for runs."

Smart boy.

He knows it won't take long.

I have been running a mile solid for two weeks now. And last time I timed it, it took me 10 minutes. I am going to S-L-O-W-L-Y work my way up to a couple miles and then add in some long ones... all so I can be ready for the TOUGH MUDDER in October. I am so excited for this!

The zoo again

 We had a great time at the zoo last week, with our friends, The French's.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of them... only us. 

But we really were there with friends!

The Flamingos were in rare form, fighting over who got to sit on the eggs. 

The kids laughed a this.

Tyler, using every opportunity to teach the kids rock climbing skills. 

Yes, this is at the zoo.

No, that is not a rock climbing wall.

Well, at least to the average human being.

Kellen is a monkey too.

She was trying to get close to the peacock, so she was trying to sneak up on it... it seemed to know her tricks.

Here, kitty kitty!

I think this is the one that they both kind of have the same expressions...

it was feeding time at the jaguar exhibit!

And at the Red Maned Wolves... they are one of my favorite animals at our zoo... and they had a baby this year! He was in there being fed.. so cute!

Thanks Amanda for the family pics... we usually are lacking at those!

This is one of Ayla's... she is really a good photographer.

And although our camera was a little spendy, I think we do the right thing by letting her play with it (supervised, of course). She seems to understand that she needs to be careful.

I absolutely LOVE this photo... again, one of Ayla's.

I messed with it a tiny bit, but she did a lovely job at capturing her brothers... 

What a girl :)