Wall Celebration

This past weekend was the annual Wall Celebration, so down to Grandma's we went! Saturday morning we went to the parade to catch us some more candy....you know...because the sack full we got while in Nebraska just wasn't enough, I guess! :)


Tyson has this thing with looking "silly" while I'm trying to take a picture. Come to think of it...that is obviously where Aiden learned all of his "tricks"!

Between the Geigle crew, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa, Amy, and all of us-we took up a good bit of space.


See what I mean about the whole posing for pictures thing?!

This is probably one of the better family pictures we've gotten in a while...not sure how we tricked the boys into actually looking at the camera.

I'm not sure why, but that last few years they have had the fire trucks at the front of the parade instead of the back. Really interrupts Aiden's ability to enjoy the whole parade experience. Surprisingly, he recovered rather quickly this time...baby steps.

Shriner clowns...

Little guy just checking to see if there is any more fire trucks coming...

This was the Drug store's float...kinda cute, I thought.

It was Marla's 10 year class reunion, and Tony pulled the trailer with her class on it. Mason didn't want to be left out, so he threw candy out the sun roof, and did a wonderful job.

Since Mason was busy in the parade, Aiden got to share a comfortable seat in the stroller with cousin Cooper.

As soon as the parade was over we had to go to the "backyard" for the boys to play. I'm not sure if they'll ever get tired of going there every time we go to Grandmas.

Tyson spent the majority of his time playing in the fountains. Little guy, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with the water so hung out doing his own thing.

Uncle Scott hangin with Mr. Cooper:)

Good one...

Grandma gettin her Cooper loves...

Not sure what you would call this move...kinda looks like he's doing some sort of interpretive dance, or something.:)

Aiden taking a little wagon ride...

Both boys tried out the buckin bronc.

Check out our little Indian boy...

Aren't they cute?

It was down right hot on Saturday, so the boys worked together and blew up this little contraption, so they could play in the water.

Another good look for Tyson...

As you can see...the boys had a blast!

On a side note...Samson has this thing where he constantly has to have something in his mouth...shoes and stuffed animals happen to be his favorites. He doesn't chew on them...he just carries them around and drops them in random places so you can never find them. Well, he happened to find one of Grandma's flip flops, and we searched high and low looking for that dang thing. We finally found it in the yard, but until then she walked around like this...

Nice, huh?! She's posing with Scott in this picture.

This is where the boys ate every meal...on the deck. It was so nice having the mess outside, and also letting us adults have a quiet conversation inside.

Saturday evening we played baseball, and had a ton of fun! We didn't have teams. Instead, we all took turns hitting the ball (youngest to oldest-even Aiden got in on the action) while whoever wasn't on base or hitting played in the outfield.

Aiden was J'J's (what he calls her) little shadow. It was adorable. Check out that baseball stance.

After several rounds through the batting order, we called it a game and went inside and enjoyed some Root Beer Floats. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful day!

4th of July in Nebraska

The weekend of July 4th we traveled down to Jean and Brian's in Nebraska. We thought it was the perfect time to make the trip with the long holiday weekend...all the more time to play!! About a week before we went we found out that Chambers (the small town of 300 people that they live just a few miles from and where the kids go to school) was having their annual turtle races, so we went on some major "turtle hunting" to find us some turtles to race. Amy (friend/co-worker) found the little turtle crossing their road and brought it to us, but we were still wanting to find one more. Thursday (the day before we were leaving) after work the boys and I met Scott at Reptile Gardens to go searching at Amy's pond for another one. Well finally after 2 and 1/2 hours and a l-o-n-g drive through the hills we finally found this "big guy" in Lakota Lake...just a few miles from Keystone. We were ready for some turtle racing!!!

We got to their house a little after midnight Friday night. The boys were apparently exhausted, because we all slept in until close to 9am on Saturday!! It didn't take long, though, before the fun began!

Aiden absolutely loves Kyra and was her little shadow all weekend. She was so good with him and really made him feel like a big kid...never leaving him out! You rock Kyra!!

As for these 2....what can you say...boys will be boys!! This lawnmower definitely got its work out! They drove it all around the yard, out into the corn fields, and through every mud puddle they could find!

Cade was a pro and helped show Tyson the ropes of steering and changing gears.

This was one of their treks out into the corn field...

and look who was close on their tail!!

It wasn't long before the wagon came out and all 4 of the "little" kids got in on the lawnmower fun!

We also had to take time to "tend to the turtles"! Let me tell you...they have a lot of turtles down there in them parts!! I think between them and ours there was a total of 6 turtles to try and keep alive until the turtle races (which weren't until Monday)!

We let them out to roam for a bit while we would wash out their "homes"...you know training for the big day!:)

Meanwhile the boys had found a bit of mud...hard to believe, I know!

Washing each other down with the hose.

Dad decided to show off his mad skills on the Pogo stick....Go Dad!!

The boys were very excited to do fireworks, and it was impossible to hold them off, so we finally gave in and let them do some snakes and smoke bombs.

Aiden's favorite part was to "smash" the snakes after they had cooled off...see below...

After a few fireworks Brian got the motorcycle out for some good ole down home lawnmower/motorcycle racing!!

Aiden getting his turn on the lawnmower...

Uncle Brian hopped on and took him on a ride around the yard.

Look out! The big boys are racing!

Aiden driving his tractor in the mud hole...

After lunch "the boys" went to do some fishing while "the girls" stayed at the house so Aiden could take a much needed nap. After Aiden woke up we went out to join the boys fishing. We didn't exactly go prepared, though, so Lex went back to the house to grab chairs and my camera. When she got back we went to help her carry everything over to the pond. I quick snapped this picture of the "fisherman". It was 30 seconds later when I see Scott bent over Tyson and yelling for me to get over there...cue...end of fishing adventure....

Tyson had been doing so good working with the hook and doing most everything by himself. Well his line somehow got caught around the barb wire fence that was just a few feet behind them, and he was working to get it untangled when this happened...

We tried our best to remove it ourselves with some needle nose pliers, but it was not pretty. Jeanie was covering his eyes, I was holding his hands, while Dad was trying to pull it out. It was hurting him soooo bad, though, so we soon decided we would be making a trip into the O'Neill Emergency room! Do we know how to have a good time or what?!

He was so brave! After they numbed up his finger the Dr. tried his best to pull it out...with no success. I guess it had went into his joint, so he ended up having to make a small cut next to the hook to help get it out...OUCH!!! Let's just say it was a good thing we had Tyson's head turned the other way! Finally, after the cut was made...out came the hook!

After a quick bandage job and bottle of Keflex we were on our way back to the house.

No...he's not giving me the finger...well he kinda is, but it doesn't count because I asked him to show me his finger so I could take a picture!

No fish hook was going to slow down our fun. Soon after we got home the fireworks came back out, and it was as if nothing had happened. Gotta love kids and their amazing resiliency!

We made a bonfire and the kids went to town with fireworks.

Aiden isn't much of a fan of the whole firework thing...they're "too wowd", so after about an hour of refusing to take his hands off his ears him and I went into the house to tub and watch the "big show" from inside.

The next morning we went in to Chambers for an omelet feed ( a fundraiser for Lex and some classmates) Kyra and Aiden just chillin before we left.

After we got back home...you guessed it...more fireworks!!!

Oh...and some more lawnmower riding...of course!

The slip-n-slide also made an appearance...

and not to be left out...the cattle tank! Gotta love country life!!

Sunday evening Jeanie and I did the fun run/walk. We power-walked 2 miles in about 90 degree heat and insane humidity. We had a great time!

After the walk there was a parade.

The fire trucks made the mistake of sounding their horns, so the rest of the parade looked like this...

Let me tell ya, it's pretty tough to pick up any candy with your hands glued to your ears!:)

Waving at everyone...that's the only way you get candy, you know!

Hey look...it worked!

Monday morning arrived and all of the turtles were still alive, so off to the races we went. The boys had named our big turtle "Rocco"...or "Brocco" if you ask Tyson...and the little guy "Speedy". While standing in line to register everyone was making comments on how big R/Brocco was. We pretty much had them shakin in their boots!:)

Unfortunately, I think the time/altitude change negatively impacted our guys because it was not good. Well, they maybe didn't win, but it was a lot of fun to watch, and the boys still had fun! We left them in the good hands with the Farewell's. They were going to release them all together so they could be one big happy family! I sure hope they like their new home in Nebraska!

After some time in the blow-up castles it was time to load up and make the trip back home. To say it was sad to leave was an understatement. The kids had such a great time...as did we! The weekend was jam-packed with so much fun and we made so many great memories. Thank-you so much Brian and Jean for the great time. We truly can't wait until we can come down and "whoop it up" again!