Independence Day Weekend

Like most years, we spent this Independence Day weekend in Sheridan, WY with Keith's family.

The sunset on the drive up there was gorgeous!  Don't mind all of the bugs on the windshield.  I'm not sure what types of bugs we were driving through but I can say the mosquito's were humongous!!

 A perk of road trips for the modern day kid is the movie time.  At night, PJ's are an added bonus.

First thing Saturday morning, Keith and his Dad went to work on a netting frame for Papa's cherry trees. Oliver was a big help with the string.

Then, Kellan jumped in to help.

Uncle Brian showed up to lend a helping hand and probably a few wise cracks for his little brother.

Last year, Oliver had the pleasure of being pulled around.  This year he enjoyed returning the favor by pulling around the big kids.

Lauren enjoying a ride from Oliver.

Oliver, Kellan, Kaden and Lauren enjoying the wagon.

Nana has this t-pee that the kids enjoy playing in.  Sometimes, the window is more than something to look out of.

When we visit in the summer, we enjoy the club house pool.  We had great weather and enjoyed walking over to the pool nearly every day.  This year, Kellan gets to enjoy the trip as well.

Oliver helping out as the big brother seat belt.  Kellan still found it important to hang on.

Oliver, Kellan and Lauren.

Lauren, Kellan, Oliver, Nana and Pappa

The ride was getting quite cozy and Kellan was getting more comfortable.

In the pool at last!  Keith, Oliver and Kellan playing around.

Kaden, Keith, Oliver, Lauren and Kellan in the kiddie pool.

Keith and Kellan in the pool.

Keith swimming around in the 18" of kiddie pool water.

Kellan checking out the functionality of the floaty raft.

Family portrait in the kiddie pool.

Oliver, Mommy, Kellan and Daddy.

Later, we moved the fun to the big pool where Oliver and Keith got to play some basketball.

Oliver is getting more and more outgoing in the pool.  Here he is floating on a noodle (with his life jacket) with Kellan, Daddy and Lauren.

Nana and Papa watched from the shade.  Kellan joined them after he tried falling asleep face forward in his floaty raft.

Once we got home, everyone got baths/showers and Kellan got a bottle.  It didn't take long for him to suck down the warm milk and drift off into a silent slumber.

After a very full day, Oliver quickly drifted off to sleep for the night.  All it took was asking him to close his eyes and he didn't open them again until morning.

On Sunday, Kellan was up and at-em on all fours.  He is crawling like this more and more.  I don't think he liked the grass on his knees so he got a lot of practice on his feet while we were in the yard.

Oliver was often on the hunt for ants.

Kellan has started crawling up the stairs.  The bricks were a bit hard on his legs so he didn't make it far this time.

Oliver and Mommy self portrait.

Oliver got a hold of the camera and took a few shots.  Here is Papa.

Here is Nana.

Here is Mommy and Kellan.

Mommy and Kellan playing Patty Cake.

This is Papa telling Oliver that his finger is over the lens.

Keith saw this and said "This is what I saw growing up" followed with a chuckle.

Clearly, Oliver didn't worry much about his finger.

Keith's response to this was "This is what the grand kids see now.  All smiles."

Sunday night, Oliver got a special treat when Papa took him fishing for the first time ever.

Oliver touching a fish for the first time.

This fish is as big as a shark.

The shark on Oliver's shirt, at least.

They needed to go back to the truck to get some supplies so Oliver went for a walk with Papa.

Papa and Oliver checking out another fish.

It's all about the angle in telling the fish story.

When you are three feet tall, this is what you see.

You may see this as well.

When the guys got back home, Oliver was excited to tell Nana and I about his fish stories.  Here he is telling us how big the fish was.

Telling the story and not wanting to be in a picture.

Having a moment to himself with a snack.

On Monday, Papa taught Oliver how to drive the tractor.  I heard later that he was a natural.

As Oliver was driving heavy equipment, I went off to meet my Sister-in-Law Stephanie and her sister Tammy at Starbucks.  We all have a love of Starbucks and Tammy and I share a love of blogging.  She updates hers daily Sunday through Thursday and you can see it if you click here.  I'm happy if I can keep up with a weekly post.  Whew!  The three of us had a great time chatting it up over a cup of our favorite beverage.

Carrie, Stephanie and Tammy

That afternoon, Stephanie took the kids to the pool and Oliver joined them.  I stayed back at the house with Kellan as he was napping.  You can see photos from prior to my arrival if you click here.

Pictured below, Oliver and Kaden chasing ants.  Looks like they share a mutual love for insect hunting.

Oliver filling up a squirt gun.

Miss Lauren has turned into quite a fish, complete with goggles.

Come to find out, the squirt gun belonged to this little girl.  Oliver negotiated one more turn before giving it back.

Since we were going to have a late night of fireworks, all of the kids laid down for naps.  Kaden

Every year we try to take a family photo at Nana and Papa's since it is such a nice setting.  This was our 2011 photo.  It had been a long and busy weekend and I think the last thing the boys wanted to do at this point was pose for a picture.  We got two.  This one wasn't too bad.

The stink eye came out from both Kellan and Oliver on this one.  I think they are officially done with photo moments.

Of course, Oliver's new love of taking photos is never worn out.

Daddy and Uncle Brian with Lauren in the foreground.

Mommy and Kellan.

Cousins Lauren and Kaden. 

Aunt Stephanie and Kellan.

In celebration of Red, White and Blue.... Watermelon!

Aunt Stephanie and I got the kids some fun Fourth of July treats.  This included glow-in-the-dark necklaces and bracelets.

Heading out front to start some fireworks, Kellan was ready with his festive pin wheel, another treat for the festivities.

The kids always like the smoke bombs and they also discovered that they were smelly.

Oliver, Kaden and Lauren watching the snakes.  We were thinking of Aunt Lindsey because in years past she has told us she loves these.

Aunt Stephanie and Kellan having a chat.

Our master firework lighters, Keith and Brian.

Keith rescuing one of the parachute fireworks.

I loved the parachutes when I was a kid.  Appropriately, now so does my kiddo.  What do you do with them.  Run around!

Sparkler Time!

I had a chat with the kids about sparkler safety before we started.  Fireworks and kids always makes me nervous.  I'm sure a lot of this is from being raised by a very safety conscience father and then to work in a safety minded environment now.  The talk was the usual, hold them out in front of you, don't swing them at other people, etc.  The one thing I forgot to say was "don't touch the end, it's hot".  I guess I figured this was obvious, unless you're three.  The one kids who got hurt, was mine.  Poor Oliver touched the end after the sparkles went out.  He was fine but it hurt for a while.

Oliver spent much of the night in preparation for the loud fireworks.  Times like this I see a lot of myself in him.  I think I spent many July 4th holidays with my fingers in my ears.  With that said, I just had my hearing tested at work and I have "Super Duper" hearing, I was told.  That's right, hearing safety at it's finest!

 Stephanie and her kids; Kaden and Lauren.

The next morning we headed South for home.  After two hours in the car, Oliver wanted to keep going but Kellan really needed a break.  Since there isn't many places to stop, we took advantage of being in Casper and went to one of Keith's favorite places, Sanfords.

Look close and you'll see Keith, Kellan and Oliver in the bottom left by Bugs Bunnies foot.

Oliver loved the shark so we went to check it out as an excuse to stretch.

It almost looks like the shark may have Oliver for lunch.  Is Oliver the diner or dinner?

He also liked this T-Rex head.  Very carefully, he's touching the tooth.

I told him he should poke the T-Rex in the eye, so he did.

Once inside, Oliver found a lot of fun stuff to check out and his kids menu came with a hat.

Kellan wasn't quite so excited about the hat.

The hat came off as quickly as it went on.

Keith's burger was HUGE!

After lunch we hit the road and were home 4 hours later.

Thanks to Nana and Papa for a great weekend and happy Independence Day!!