in 7 days ..

in 7 days i will have ran in and completed the new york city marathon .. 

hey grandpa ..

grandpa was sitting enjoying the pretty afternoon .. when we returned with our big ole flat tire .. 

cash tells me that he is going to go and ask grandpa if he will watch him ride his motorcycle ..

ok cash .. 

cash:  hey grandpa .. we are going to ride the motorcycle .. you want to come and watch .. 

grandpa:  sure cash

cash:  ellie is going first though .. 

grandpa:  ok .. i will watch her to ..

cash:  i am going next because i am faster !

so .. grandpa and daddy gave ellie a little instruction .. i stayed way way way back and took pictures ..

keep your balance .. give it a little gas .. 

you are doing great ..

almost .. 

and there you go .. ellie is starting .. stopping and riding all by herself .. 

cash had one question .. where is the gas grandpa ?

cash wanted to look down at the ground .. we kept telling him .. look up cash .. look at granny .. 

so .. grandpa got on his motorcycle and cash had to look at grandpa and follow him .. that way he couldn't look at the ground ..

cash hasn't figured out the stopping part .. so he stops and falls over .. 

daddy .. did you see me .. i was going so fast .. 

all around it was a wonderful afternoon .. even with the flat tire .. 

flat tires and blown bearings ..

we had just arrived at white rock .. dad walks over and says .. do you know that your tire is smoking .. what i say .. 

your tire is smoking ..

what jeff says .. 

your tire is smoking .. 

what ..

that is not a good way to start a trip .. whatever just happened to good morning jenny .. glad you guys made it .. we are going to have a super weekend .. isn't this a beautiful morning .. 

those are broken wheel bearings .. impressed aren't you .. hey .. i may not go to work everyday or on time but i do pay attention when i am there .. 

broken bearings mean that we had to take the tire off the trailer .. pull off the broken greasy bearings .. then dad got into his ranger so that he could drive to the top of the hill so that he could make a call and see if someone could bring a new set of bearings when they came out on saturday .. 

this is how the first 2 hours of fall break started .. no biggie i told jeff .. this is our 1 flat tire for the trip .. 

whatever babe .. he says .. 

while we were waiting on grandpa to come back down into the valley of "absolutely no phone reception whatsoever" .. cash played with his crate of trucks that he brought along .. as if riding in the ranger and riding his motorcycle wasn't going to be enough .. the gravel was just the perfect size .. 

a happy jeff .. having gotten over the smoking trailer tire and blown up bearings .. 

finally grandpa returned .. we loaded up and hit the trail .. 

and then we came home .. 

then grandpa got back in his ranger .. went to the top of the hill to make another phone call to see about someone maybe bringing some extra tires .. 

prepared .. yes .. just not for blown up bearings and sliced up flat tires .. 

a thought ..

if you prepare and train for something .. you can so do it .. i am so ready !!  see you in 9 days new york !

fall break .. before the flat tires ..

i had to load my car up with their stuff because it was to much to carry up the hill .. all this for just a few days of camping .. really .. 

we got the car seats into the freightliner .. that kinda sounds funny .. car seats in a freightliner .. anyway .. got all their stuff for the road trip situated .. that is weekend pony between the car seats .. cash got to bring him home from school for the long weekend .. you then write a little story about what weekend pony did and then share it with the class .. lucky weekend pony is all i can say .. 

it was windy and a little cool when they all left on thursday morning .. 

thursday night .. weekend pony watching a movie before bed .. 

friday morning we were loaded up and ready to meet up with the rest of our crew .. and yes .. that is cash's motorcycle on the back of the truck .. 

oh cash .. please stand next to me so granny can take our picture .. 

ellie had a "plant" and cash a walking stick .. these turkey's were everywhere .. every time we stopped we had to pick them out of the ranger .. the back seat .. the front seat .. the floor boards .. everywhere .. 

lunch ..


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

swimming after hot dogs and cake ..

after we were full of hot dogs .. cake and ice cream we thought .. or more like the kids thought that we should .. or they .. should go swimming .. 

my suggestion was simply to stick there little piggies in to wash off the sand from the sand box .. somehow that turned into swimming .. 

is the water cold girls .. no not at all 

sweet sweet lucy .. she's the smart one .. she just put her little toes in .. 

cash and hampton .. they turned the raft into a boat ..

poor ross .. he just wanted to say goodbye to the birthday kids .. they gave him a big ole wet wet hug ..

time for tricks .. emma and her big jump ..

go lucy .. 

good one emma ..

hampton and his "canyon ball" ..

they thought it would be fun to swim with the fins .. 

even baby harper got into the pool .. with the bow still in her hair .. she just might be our next little bbq

and what's better than a little sun bathing after a cold swim .. sun bathing with a towel over your face .. the sun causes wrinkles you know .. gabe would be so proud !!

cake .. hot dogs and presents ..

we celebrated ellie and cash's birthday with family on sunday .. we had 1 cake but ellie had a side and cash had a side ..

ellie's side ..

cash's side ..

and hot dogs .. some nice and burnt .. some not so burnt ..

the "kids" table .. noah fit right in .. 

sweet faces ..

and fire fighters .. armed with hoses full of water !!

happy 5th birthday cash .. 

happy 9th birthday ellie .. 

it was a perfect day !!