Sledding

What a difference a week makes! Just last weekend we were basking in the sun and beautiful spring weather, and today we got to enjoy a little winter fun! Tyson loves sledding, and the little "gully" across from our house makes the perfect sledding hill. Aiden isn't so sure about the sledding part yet, but he loves to be outside all the same. Him and I watched the "big boys" sled down the hill. Samson even got to be a part of the party. We braved it and took him off his leash so he could run and play with the "boys"! Just look at the smile on his face.... if he only knew what he was in for.... Scott thought of the wonderful idea to have Samson go down on the sled with him. They made it down fairly smoothly, but Tyson wanted to get to sled down the hill with Samson as well.. I think you can kinda get the picture at how the second run went. Samson knew all too well by the second time and wasn't quite as cooperative. Persistence paid off, however, and they finally made it down the hill. Little guy just enjoying the action. Dad and Tyson had a few races down the hill. Aiden then became Dad's little helper to give him a push start! Dad tried and tried to talk Aiden into sledding down the hill with him....to no avail, but I think it is safe to say that fun was had by all!

"Puppy Park"...and the "Kid Park"

This past weekend was the first really nice weekend we were able to spend outside and really enjoy the beautiful weather. It has been quite a while since Samson has gotten to go to the "puppy park", so we thought we'd treat him to some fun as well as the boys.


He loves sniffing absolutely everything....especially all of the dog butts! :) He also, amazingly enough, stays pretty close to us and usually comes back to us pretty good when we call him.


The boys did a good job being patient and letting Samson enjoy his time at the park.

It apparently was just warm enough to take a quick walk through the creek.

OOOOHHH, that feels good! After about 30 minutes of checking out many different dog butts, Samson was ready to go take his turn at watching his brothers play at their park. We have never actually taken Sam to a regular park, because I've always been afraid he wouldn't behave. He tends to get VERRRRY excited around other people and dogs. He's never aggressive....just whiny and obnoxious...usually. Boy, did he prove us wrong. He did a great job for the most part. There was a small goose incident, as well as a bit of excitement when 2 other dogs showed up, but overall I was impressed. He did squiggle out of his leash a couple of times, but never ran off. Overall, a success!

It's hard to tell in this picture, but Aiden's absolute favorite thing to do at the park is "sing"! :)

One of Tyson's classmates was also at the park, so they got in a little see-saw action in between running up and down the play set.

As you can see, a broken arm didn't scare him away from the monkey bars...no, he takes them on like a champ all the time!

We took a picnic lunch and ate at the park in between playing, and I swear we didn't spike their drinks! :) It's amazing what fresh air and sunshine can do to a guy....

Silly boy!

Yep...fresh air/sunshine high apparently wore off. I wanted to get one last picture of the two boys together, and this is what I got!!

Mason's Birthday Party!

Mason turned 3 years old on march 13th, and he had a big dinosaur party to celebrate on Saturday the 12th. Marla tried her skills at making and decorating the cake herself.......


she did an awesome job, if I do say so myself!

As usual, there was no shortage of presents, but they definitely saved the best for last.....

to say that Mason was completely shocked when he opened up the box would be an understatement. Once the initial shock wore off, he was carting him all over the house and outside. He even helped the little guy go down the slide...too bad I didn't get a picture of that. Mason decided to name his new puppy "Mater" from the movie CARS.

Aiden wasn't quite up to standing by himself with all of the cousins so I got to be part of the picture....score!

Cooper apparently was wore out from all of the festivities...and no he's not sitting up by himself...Grandma Peg was holding him up for the pictures! All of the kids had a ton of fun getting to play together, and the adults enjoyed grazing over all of the yummy food. It was a great party all around! Happy Birthday, Mason!

Ice Skating Adventure!

Well we finally took the plunge last night and got Aiden...and me out on the ice! We weren't so sure Aiden would go for it, but he had a blast!! Tyson jumped right out there and left the rest of us in the dust showing off all his best moves, but I must say that for Aiden and Mom's first time on the ice we did a mighty fine job!

The walkers they have for beginners were perfect for Aiden and me. I held up top to help while I got a feel for the ice, and Aiden held on to the cross bar and took off like he had been doing it all his life!

This is a blurry picture, but I just love Aiden's face. He literally had a "perma-grin" the entire time we were out on the ice!!

Then there's the expert Tyson. He and Dad used their time on the ice working on skating backwards. By the end of the night Tyson was actually making quite a bit of progress!

Even without shin guards Tyson enjoyed falling to the ice for fun....

and then there was a little "monkey-see, monkey-do" who would quickly fall to the ice as soon as he saw brother do it...all the while squealing and laughing with excitement yelling: "I fall down!"

By the end of the night he was able to hop back up on his feet pretty quickly. It was definitely good practice, I think, at improving on his balance!

One of the trips around the ice Aiden squealed out: "WHOAAA! I'm skating!!" He was so proud of himself...and so were Mom and Dad!

By the end of the night he was even able to keep his balance pushing the walker by himself...amazing!

The Zamboni came out after about an hour of skating to re-surface the ice, so we were all able to take a little break and re-charge for the next round of skating.

My 3 boys chillin!

Skating can really wear a guy out!

Tyson kept a close eye on the Zamboni...and was one of the first in line to get back out on the ice as soon as it was done!

Look....all by his big boy self!

I have a feeling it won't be very long at all before both boys leave Mom and Dad in the dust while they go off together racing around the ice. I also have a fairly good feeling we had better start saving a little more money to help fund a 2nd hockey player in the very near future!! I guess only time will tell:)

McRush Night!

We took the boys to McDonald's tonight for supper and look who was working behind the counter.....

That's right...it was Danny Battachio!! The Rush made a special appearance at 3 different McDonald's in town tonight. Scott called the Rush office today to see which one Danny was going to be at, so we could go say "Hi"!

Both boys were a bit overwhelmed at first. Tyson gets absolutely "star struck" when he's close to any of the players, so it took a little while just watching everyone else go up for autographs before he decided he was ready to get his own.

They had Rush posters they were handing out, so each one of the players that were there signed that as well as the back of Tyson's shirt.

Scott Kalinchuk

They were all very nice and more than happy to take a picture with him as well. You may notice that Aiden is no where to be found. He unfortunately was not having the whole picture thing.

Aiden kept a pretty tight grip on Dad's pant leg...all the while asking where "baby donkey" and Nugget were at! Unfortunately, they were no where to be found:(

Scott Wray tried his best to get the little guy to warm up to him and give him a "Five"....to no avail!

Derek Leblanc and Rush Captain-Scott Wray

Danny seemed to be taking his job pretty seriously behind the counter...maybe just making sure he has a back-up plan should he get tired of hockey!

Tim Boron-back-up goalie for the Rush

Probably the most important autograph of the night....from the "Batman"...Danny Battachio!!

This picture cracks me up. I think Danny was starting to say "cheeeeeeseburger"!

Group pic of the guys.......

Group pic with the guys and Tyson....so cool!!!!

Dave Grimson

Tyson showing off his awesome shirt....with a GRRRR for "show"

Aiden didn't want to be left out on the action when I was taking the pictures of Tyson, so he flashed me a smile...from the tub. Hey, I was multi-tasking!!

It was a great night. All of the guys were really nice. Scott Wray noticed Scott's Rushmore hockey hat and asked Tyson if he played hockey. Tyson told him he did and Scott went on to tell Tyson that his kids played hockey too, and were very sad that their season was over...boy, can we relate! Tyson then told Danny good-bye when we were leaving as well as wished him luck for this weekend. They gave each other "knuckles" and away we went.