Fun in Billings

So, every summer we go to Billings for doctor's appointments but this time we made it into a 2-day mini-vacation. The hotel we stayed at had a water park and Jackson was so excited we had to go check it out the second we got to our room. Here he is hamming it up for the camera on the way over to the pools.

Besides lots of awesome water slides for the big kids, the stuff for those "under 48 inches" was absolutely amazing. Here J and his grandpa check out all the water type things to do. There were water cannons to shoot and buckets to dump on people and all sorts of fun slides.

There were lots of different pools.
This one had lily pads that Jackson could use to jump from one side of the pool to the other.

His favorite place to hang out was in the big wave pool. The first day he wanted one of us pretty close by his side. By the second day he was grabbing a tube all by himself, jumping into it and kicking all the way out to the middle of the pool.

Another of Jackson's favorites was the big bucket on top of the play center. It would gradually fill with water and when it was full dump a giant wave down on top of everyone.

At first he liked to watch at the edge of the "splash zone."

Then he discovered this tunnel where he could sit and wait for the water to come pouring down all around him. Look at that smile! He so did not want to leave when it came time to go this afternoon. We'd better make this place an annual tradition!

What a Wonderful Weekend!

So much fun having Jackson here visiting. He loves to help outside (in short little bursts of energy!) Watering has been a favorite chore since the first summer he came to visit when he was only 1 1/2. Only then he just loved holding the hose and now he can turn the hose on and off and fill up the watering can and actually hit the flowers that need watering. He thought it was cool to see the stepping stone he and Nolan had made me for Christmas in the flower garden.

Of course anything that involves a BIG SHARP TOOL is what he is begging to do. Only got to do this for a short time because, even though he was very careful, it was scaring Kaytee and I.

Once the work was done we got in Grandpa's truck and headed up to the cabin. Jackson found this cap and wore it most of the time we were there.

J discovered something interesting along the road on our walk.

His reaction when I told him it was Moose Poop!

J was pretty impressed with the size of this moose print. He also liked the moose he saw walking past the cabin the next morning - of course we didn't have the camera out then.

Now that he is older and can climb he loved exploring every rock and nook and cranny on the mountain. This is in the outcropping of rock behind the Horsley cabin.

Going potty at the cabin was a new experience as well since the water pipes were still frozen and he had to use the outhouse. Probably getting his picture taken while he was going potty was a new experience too. Sorry J.

The snowdrift behind the cabin was pretty cool to play in too - Just not very clean or good for snowballs.

Back home to a lot warmer weather. It will be so nice to get back up on the mountain when Jami and Tim and Nolan come at the end of the week. J loves playing outside in the cool of the evening. Tonight he was drawing pictures with sidewalk chalk and then explaining to grandpa who they were by drawing arrows pointing to each of them. These are all his family and right now he is pointing to his cousin, Janelle's Preston, who he really wants to have come play with him at grandma's house.

My Crazy Grandson

So, 5:oo AM (!) this morning this is what tiptoes in my bedroom to wake me up "What are we doing today Grandma?" Don't know why he thought the goggles might play a big part in our plans but he was definitely ready for anything.

Well, maybe not this! First order of business after breakfast - clean the last bird nest off the decorative vines above the window. These little birds were sure cute, but left an awful lot of mess behind. J wasn't quite sure what to do when I told him to take the nest off so he could put it in the garbage. Ewwwww!

Then we went to pick up branches where Kaytee had been doing her tree trimming. Jackson loved sitting on the bench because it was "like a forest!"

Then this afternoon we went over to the church for a kid's Bike Rodeo. J sat and watched for a while to scope it all out.

Then he had to carefully adjust the wheels on his scooter to get them just right. He really wanted and needed to wear a helmet - this one was a "tad" big because it used to be Kaytee's. We also had to assure him that the blue meant it was a "boy" helmet and not a "girl" one.

Then he was off and riding (scooting?). He had so much fun and was so proud of how fast he could go.

Then we had a "kids choice" ward dinner outside at the pavilion. I put one of everything I thought J would eat on his plate and here he is showing off his pizza. Then he ate most of the spaghetti. Then the cookie. We brought the sandwiches home to eat tomorrow.

He made lots of new friends and was so excited to have the big grassy area behind the church to run around in. I think in this picture Jackson had just been tagged by Lacy (in the dress) and he is off and running to get someone else. Lacy is coming over to play tomorrow. Jackson is very excited!


Then back home for a little relaxin' Just loving his own little computer to play games on. Looks like one tired boy - we are off to bed and ready for another adventure tomorrow. Hopefully it won't start quite so early!

A day in the life of J

Our oldest grandson, Jackson, is visiting from California for the next two weeks. YAY! He is so sweet and so much fun and very, very busy. He and Kaytee made some giant sugar cookies today. He loved putting on the sprinkles.

But mostly he couldn't wait to eat one!

He spends most of his day outside playing with Heston and jumping on the trampoline. Hard to tell in this picture, but he was going to run out to the trampoline and turned around and got surprised by a sprinkler that had just turned on.

He has also been fascinated with a balloon animal maker we have and loves blowing up the balloons so big that they fly off the end and swish around the room. Heston is just fascinated with everything J does.

Suddenly tonight Jackson disappeared, then showed up in his "swim shorts" because he wanted to go swimming. We inflated the kiddie pool and the big rubber duck but since it was already dark, he'll have to wait until tomorrow for the water. Instead he settled for building a big marble tower.

And sometime today he practiced his photography skills. These next are just two of MANY I discovered when I downloaded my camera tonight.

The Empty Nest

I must have housing decor that looks way too realistic, because now a little wren has built her nest on the vine above the window by the front door.

It is too high up for me to be able to peek in but we saw a little baby peeking over the edge the other day. He is soooo cute. (He has the fuzzy head and big yellow beak - you can see him right in the center of the nest.)

Now for the story of the nest a big robin built on the wreath right on our front door. First she laid 4 eggs.

We do have to use our front door sometimes, and everytime we would open it the poor mother would get startled and hurridly fly away. Twice she got an egg caught on her feet or wing or something and it would go smash on the sidewalk. So then there were only two eggs left to hatch.

And hatch they did - the ugliest baby birds I have ever seen.

They grew bigger and bigger.

AND BIGGER. Good thing there were only two! That nest was definitly not big enough. (Maybe she dropped those other eggs on purpose and only made us think it was our fault.) They never got any cuter either.

And then they were gone. One day there was just an empty nest and we could see the mother with her babies over in the side yard taking flying lessons. They never came back to the nest. Yay! Now I can clean my door! They were messy little things too.

And now our last little baby will soon be leaving us with an empty nest.

Is she ready? Are we?

Only time will tell. Can't wait to watch her fly!

A Memorable Memorial Day!

So, this is the year that I will I turn the big 5-O and I have been given some serious thought to getting in shape. My girls have put those thoughts into action with Cassidy designing me a personalized work-out plan for the year and Jami entered me into my first race to run while I was out visiting her in California this past weekend. We ran a 5K on Memorial Day morning and thanks to her encouragement (gentle badgering) I never stopped or walked or gave up.

So, here we are starting out the race.

Jami was pretty much flying down the road . . .she was so good at letting me go my own pace.

It got tougher near the end . . .

But it felt so good to get to the finish line.

And fun to see Worland represented on the results printout . . . And I didn't come in last place! My time was better than I thought it would be too, but definitely room for improvement. I am already looking for another race to run. I would love a running partner that is closer than California so let me know if you want to go.