Kickin it with the cousins!

Janet, Jason, and the boys came back for a visit this last weekend, so we all invaded in on Grandma Brenda's house for a few days!  The boys picked up right where they had left off a year ago, and had a blast playing together!

Cooper giving loves to Aunt J.J.

Check out those pool sharks!

"Got ya!"

Spencer did a great job of playing with Aiden!  Aiden thought he was pretty special to have his own special buddy to hang out with!

These 3 spent a lot of time working on Grandma's pool and playing in the water.  It was in the 100's every day we were down there!

Sunday evening everyone came out for a Bar-b-Que.  Scott has become the designated griller...and does a fabulous job...if I do say so myself! :)

All the cousins chillin!

It didn't take long after supper for all of the "kids" to start playing baseball.  It started in grandma's front lawn, and quickly turned into chaos! :)

Finally...after a few near misses to Aunt Mary Jane's car...the game moved out to the open field!  Brilliant idea!

Umm...don't say anything...but I think that is a strike! :)

The boys thought they wanted to all have a "slumber party" in Grandma's living room.  Well after several attempts...and a lot of talking and fooling around, Tyson and Aiden ended up sleeping with me in grandma's room!  Better luck next time, I guess:)

Keeping with tradition, we went into the Drug Store on Monday.

Drew and Tyson

Aiden and Tyson

Checking out the "choo-choo"

Playing in the fountains

After lunch we went into the city pool to try and cool off!

The boys had a blast, and after 3 hours we finally called it a day and headed back to Grandma's to celebrate Drew's birthday!

Tuesday morning we headed up to Rapid City and played at Canyon Lake Park from 9-12:30pm.  It happened to be well over 100 degrees again!  The boys were quite intrigued with throwing things in the water at the ducks (the very dirty nasty water!!)  Well, if I told Aiden once I told him 20 times to be careful and not get so close to the edge.  We had several close calls in the 3 hours and 15 minutes we were there, but it wasn't until 10 minutes before we were getting ready to leave that...you guessed it....Aiden fell head first into the nasty, duck/geese poo-filled water!!!  After flailing and freaking out he ended up several feet from the edge, so I quickly jumped in after him.  He was one sandal shy (it apparently was stuck in the thick moss), but at least he was ok.  We stripped his clothes right there and washed them off under a spicket to try to get some of the stank out of them, but even then he smelled ripe!  It was almost too much for this germaphobe to handle:)  Memories!! :)  Anyway, after a quick stop at Walgreen's for a new pair of sandals we made a quick stop at the Air and Space Museum before heading our separate ways.

The boys and I got home at about 4pm and we were exhausted!  Apparently 3 full days of playing and the 6+ hours in the heat on Tuesday (and Aiden's swim in Canyon Lake) was too much!  All 3 of us woke up Wednesday morning with belly aches, head aches, and just plain old feeling woozy!  I called in sick to work and I don't think any of us left the couch for longer than a few minutes the whole day!  After a good night's sleep on Wednesday, we were all good as new by Thursday...thank goodness!  It was worth it, and we had a great time seeing Janet, Jason, Spencer, and Drew!  The boys had a blast, and we can't wait until we all get to hang out again!!

Father's Day!

Dad (aka...the boys:) wanted to go golfing for Father's Day...so off we went to Pirate's Cove for a little friendly game of put-put!

Dad with his 2 boys!

We let Dad go first...since it was his special day and everything!

The boys really enjoyed it, and even Aiden remained patient and really worked hard on getting the ball into the cup.

Taking a little breather.

Tyson makes quite the photographer...don't you think?

Getting a few pointers from Dad

The 18 holes were over way too quickly if you ask the boys.  They were ready to go for another round.  We ended up winning a token for a free admission, so we settled for telling them we would make sure and come back another day!  They give the kids a special goodies bag full of "pirate stuff", and the boys wasted no time trying it out!

Those are some mean-lookin pirates if you ask me!  All in all it was a great day, and we all had a great time celebrating Dad! 

Playing tourist!

For lack of anything else to do...and to avoid cleaning house and doing laundry:)...  we decided to load up the boys and do a little "touristing" through the hills this last weekend.

The first stop was Keystone where we meandered up and down mainstreet checking out the shops...and of course we got some salt water taffy...and maybe we enjoyed ice cream cones too!

I didn't do very well taking pictures, though.  I only took 3, but we were driving through the hills most of the day...making stops at Sheridan Lake and the city park in Hill City.  I think it's safe to say that we all had fun playing tourist for the day and enjoying the beautiful scenery right here in our back yard!

Memorial Day Weekend

We took advantage of the long holiday weekend and went down to cousins' Alexa, Kyra, and Cade's house for some good ole fashion fun!  It had rained during the night on Friday and Saturday morning started out a little chilly and wet, so these 4 decided to take advantage and get a little Nintendo DS action going!

It didn't take long before the sun started to peak out, and when it did...it quickly got hot!  The 2 big boys couldn't get to the lawn mower fast enough...

Aiden decided to help Uncle Brian find worms for the fishing trip we had planned for later that day.

Making a group effort to snag all the worms they could!

Kyra and Aiden quickly had their turn on the old beast...and there were plenty of mud puddles to splash around in!

Dan, Megan, Jessie, and Abby also made the trip down, and awesome Uncle Dan brought his 4 wheeler!!

Watching everyone take their turn on the ATV's!

Uncle Brian didn't want his motorcycle to feel left out...so out it came to join the action.  Talk about a bunch of boys having way too much fun! :)  Lets just say we had our own little "drag racing" on the gravel road out by their house!

After lunch we packed up all of the poles and the many worms they had found that morning and headed out for some fishing!

It didn't take Tyson long before he caught the first fish of the day!

Check out that beauty!

Dad...not wanting to be left out...caught a few of his own!

It appears that Aiden is doing all the work here...not only holding the fishing pole...but his dad's "beverage" as well:)

We made hot dogs over the fire for supper and hung out around the campfire that night.

Sunday was the annual Howard reunion in Taylor, Nebraska, so we made the hour and a half trip down where we met up with Grammy and Poppy!  After lunch we walked across to the park, so the kids could play and we all could visit.

Kyra is Aiden's best buddy!!

The boys played a little football.

After a couple hours we went to say hello to Great Grandma and Grandpa Dunbar!  Great Grandpa has been quite the collector of guns over the years and he is now sharing his treasures with the grandsons!

Great Grandpa giving Scott the rundown on all of the goods.

Checkin them all out.

Great Grandpa didn't want the little guy to feel left out, so he gave him this cap gun...he was telling Poppy all about it!

4 handsome generations of Dunbar men!

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa with the Dunbar boys!

All the great grand kids

Grand kids with Grandma and Grandpa

Just had to add this one...PRICELESS!

Grammy and Poppy with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa

Great Grandma and Grandpa have really cool bikes that the kids had a blast riding around!

Aiden being the big boy and riding it all by himself!

After a long visit we had to say our good-byes so we could head back to Jean and Brian's for one last night.  Monday morning we loaded up and made the trip back home.  We had such an awesome time, and the boys have soooo much fun getting to play "out in the country" with their cousins.  This trip was extra special since we also got to see Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Dunbar!!  The boys were sad to have to leave...and obviously quite exhausted from the busy weekend...:)

Didn't let go of his gun...even when he was sound asleep! :)

We stopped at Grandma Brenda's for a quick pit stop and to say hello.  She had decorated Grandpa Lyle's grave so pretty...like she always does.  It was a nice way to complete our Memorial Day Weekend...saying a quick "hello" to Grandpa Lyle...and letting him know we think about and miss him every day!