Pason Family Zoo day

Jordan works for a great company and they have this fun Zoo day that we got to go to this year.  Our whole family was able to go, even Mom, and it was soo fun.  There was a BBQ lunch with lifesaver popsicles that the kids LOVED!  Then there was a play about penguins that had a lot of audience participation - it was super funny.

There was a great face painter who transformed my sweet baby girl into a ferocious Lion, and my handsome boy into a snow leopard   
sadly the other little man refused to participate.  Then Sheldon the tortoise can for an up close and personal visit.  Our stay at the tent ended with some bouncy castle time. All of the kids had a blast, Ryley is finally getting big enough that she isn't just trampled by other kids in them.
 I think this picture of Skyler was right after he hit Ethan, and right before his play time ended.














They also had gift bags for each of the kids with some fun summer toys in them - the kids were in heaven.

We were able to walk around the zoo as much as we wanted, again sadly we didn't really take full advantage of this.  The weather was like 33 degrees that day, and it was a little warm walking around with some hot cranky kids so we saw some highlights and then came home.

I feel blessed that Jordan has a company to work for that he enjoys and that puts on such fun events for the family to go to.

Calaway Park

 We have made a few trips out to Calaway park this year, and the kids always love it.  It is so fun, we can now all go on the log ride and nobody is crying!

So I missed telling a monumental story from our trip to Montana this year.  You see I now have a 7 year old, isn't he sweet looking?  Well for his 7th birthday his uncle Eric and Aunt Taneil decided to give him a rotten no good birthday present.  They bought him a glorified spit ball gun.  Yup you read that right a spit ball gun - yuck!!!  So needless to say Skyler thought that this gift was great, I on the other hand would have been happy to never have seen the stupid thing.  I am the mom though, so he hadn't been allowed to play with it.  (Really spit balls all over my windows... please!)  So when we packed up the van to go to Montana, I told him that he could bring it, I figured we were pretty much out in the middle of no where, what harm could he do?  Well, the day came when he told me that he was bored, so I said that he could take his spit ball gun outside and try it out.  He was outside for only a few minutes before he came running inside with this huge smile on his face and excitedly told me that he hit a bird!  A what?  A bird, and it is under the purple bucket. I of course want nothing to do with this, so I sent Jordan out to investigate, and sure enough there was a poor innocent little bird, brought to it's death via a spitball gun.


My mother in law was mortified, she has bird feeders all over the place,and tries really hard to get them to come to the cabin.  My father in law was kind of impressed, and my feelings for the gun just got a little more intense!

Ashley Lake 2012

We LOVE Ashley Lake, it is so nice to get away from every day life, relax and enjoy time together.  It is fun to see the kids growing up and finding more confidence in their abilities on the lake, and to see the things that they come up with to keep themselves occupied.  Skyler loved t tube, and could go on pretty crazy rides, but he did think that it was fun to bail off the back of the tube. He skied on the brown skis which are boarded together and the handle is attached no problem, and he tried every day, multiple times every day to ski with the white skis which are ones that he has to hole onto the rope and pull himself up with.  He tried a grand total of 47 times this year, and never really made it. He made it up lots, but quickly lost his balance or bailed.

Ethan loved the easy ski, and the tube.  He had a blast playing in all of the little houses and played with Jordan's cousin Jackson very well.  He loved the park and trampoline at Uncle Ken's cabin.

Ryley was a little Diva and her glasses were never far away. She loved being behind the boat until she some how managed to fall off of the easy ski and didn't let go, so she was dragged back to the boat.  She did get back up again, but would cry the whole time.  It totally broke my heart, but I felt like she really needed to do it again so that she could see that it was still fun, and that she wasn't going to fall again.

We had a couple of cooler days where it just wasn't hot, and you didn't really feel like jumping in the water, but overall it was a really great week. We had a fire one of those nights so that the kids could have some smores - I am not convinced that my kids really like smores.  I think that they like them in theory, but would much rather eat the marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate separately.

Jordan always make everything look easy, and I LOVE to watch him behind the boat.  Jordan, Rick and I went golfing one day and Jordan and I both had really good games, in fact Jordan played more or less a bogie game of golf.  He got a number of pars, and then a few not so hot holes, overall it was a really good game.

I so so love that we have Ashley lake to go to, I think that it is one of the most beautiful places there are, and my favorite thing to do is sit and read a book, or look out at the lake in the morning while it is still a little cool out.

On the Sunday of the long weekend there was a group BBQ and talent show -I love this every year.  This year Skyler played the piano and Ethan and Ryley sang along, and Ethan really wanted to sing a 5 little duck song that he enjoyed from school.  At least that was the plan, in reality Skyler played the piano and I looked like an idiot with 2 kids who wouldn't sing a thing.  Oh well there is always next year, how stupid do you think I can look then?

Magrath Days 2012

We love Magrath Days, we make a point of going down every year.  The kids always have a blast, and I love the small town feel.  This year was different though, My Aunt Sandy and Uncle kim were in Florida, so they were not around for the fun - thankfully they still honored my standing reservation at their house so that we could enjoy the fun.  The second big difference was that we had some really great friends join us this time.  Sad though that the only picture that I have of any of them is a really awkward picture of the back of Donalds head.

The kids and I made the trip down Friday afternoon so that we could get all the fun we could into the weekend.  We started off with a little carnival.  Skylers favorite part was trying to climb the rope - if someone made it to the top without using their feet they won $50, sadly Skyler couldn't get more than a few feet. Ethan thought that he was amazing, and all that he could do was sit on the knot at the bottom.

Ryleys favorite was the duck races in the big feeding trough - truly it was just a water fight.

The kids tried their hand at bobbing for apples. Skyler was a champ, thankfully he was willing to share his winnings with Ryley - she was a little weak at this one.

Ryley had her face painted like a butterfly and though that she was the prettiest thing around.  It was funny to watch Ryley keep up with the boys, and it was funny to see someone hand over a pellet gun to my 5 year old and say shoot.

We took a couple of wagon rides, it really was  so fun.

To finish off our Friday festivities, Skyler tried his hand a mutton busting - it was soo funny to see this little city boy out there with all of the small town and country kids.  He did hold his own though, and thought that it was really fun, and asked if he could do it again next year.

On Saturday we had the parade where the kids just may have gotten record amounts of candy - it was insane how much these kids got.  Skyler is really a strategy guy.  Ethan got a tooth brush, thought it was great until he realized that it wasn't candy and threw it back down to grab a handful of candy. 

Grandma and Grandpa Fox came out for the parade and lunch, and as always it was great to see them.

After lunch the kids got to go on a couple of bouncy houses, play with the animals in the petting zoo, and then we took them to the pool.  There was a breeze and the kids didn't last as long in the pool as long as I expected.  Skyler loved the diving board though and went off again and again as long as Jordan or I would stay close by.  Ethan was finding pennies on the bottom of the kiddie pool, and took his responsibilities to pick up every penny very seriously - which was especially funny when a couple of boys dumped them back into the pool without him noticing.

We were then able to watch Magrath's got talent and enjoy a free beef on a bun dinner before heading back to the house to bath all of the kids and get them to bed.

Our fun ended with a fireworks show - I love it, we are able to sit right underneath them, and they do a really good job, especially when you think that it is just a small town putting it on.