Football

 The nine year old had his first "game" yesterday.  It was more like a scrimmage.  They have four teams - white, green, black and orange.  So each team played against each other color for a short half - switching sides like you would at the quarter.  I'm not sure how long each period was.  It was hard to follow because there was no announcing, no scores posted, and they had two "games" going at once - one on each side of the field.

 It was great experience though.  My nine year old is number 71 on the white team.

They have an interesting pvc contraption for a drinking fountain.

The two year old was especially impressed with the water fountain.  He kept telling me, "I need to play in the water!" or "I need to drink the water."

 They even had cheerleaders.  Our high school team doesn't even have cheerleaders - it never has.

This is the two year old warily watching the cheerleaders.  He had to move onto the stairs to see them well.  (He didn't really have to - he just thought he did.)

This was his reaction to them. ;)

"Take a picture of me!" the four year old said.  He was most interested in drinking my diet pepsi, and kept telling us, "I need to go play football!  I need a helmet."  His brother let him wear the helmet after the game.

 The nine year old was SO exhausted after the game, and thirsty and hungry too.

Papa and Bugga came to watch the game with us.  When I was showing the boys the pictures from the day, the two year old very excitedly said, "That's MY Bugga!"

Summer is Flying By

 Last winter I found these styrofoam planes at the dollar store. I bought a bunch of them and stuck them in a box.  Winter isn't the most friendly time for flying planes in Wyoming.  This week, my snoopy boys found them (which is good, since I had forgotten them and summer is nearly over).

They were the kind you have to decorate yourself.  So out came the markers and now the planes ... and their hands... are nicely decorated.  The nine year old and I had a great discussion about the president's flying habits, so two of the planes were labeled Air Force One.

It was a lot of fun watching the boys launch their planes.

 We've been enjoying the fresh fruit available in summertime too.  I'm definitely going to miss that. We got these plums from a tree in my sister's yard in Colorado.  They sure have been good.  This is only about half of them, and there are around 50 in the picture.  They've been disappearing fast. I like to buy as much as possible from fairly local places, but since fruit doesn't grow much in Wyoming, "local" to me means Colorado, Utah and Idaho.  We've enjoyed fresh peaches, apricots, cantaloupe and especially tomatoes this summer.

I also get two dozen fresh free-range eggs each week from a local family. I'm really not much of a fan of eggs, but I do like fresh eggs.  The yolks are so much brighter.  I made "bird nests" for lunch one day, which was a huge hit.  (I didn't think to take a picture after they had finished cooking.)

Are You Ready For Some Football?

The nine year old joined football this year.  He's very excited.  The red jersey is just a practice jersey.  He's holding his game jersey - white with green and orange lettering #71.  First game tonight!

For the Birds

 It's been nice having a yard set up for the birds.  Everywhere you look there is a birdhouse or feeder.  The boys - especially the two year old - have enjoyed watching them all summer.  This morning I was sitting in my favorite chair waiting for the first daycare kids to arrive.  I could only see the top part of the feeder, but noticed there were an awful lot of birds around it.  When I got up to check, a whole flock took off.  

 They kept coming back and leaving.  At one point I counted over 40 birds around the feeder at once.  Of course I didn't have my camera in hand at that point.

I've also been watching this bird.  It has really been digging a lot at the base of the tree.  I've seen it there at least three different days, and before that I had thought the kids must have been digging around the base of the tree because the ground was all torn up.  Now I'm pretty sure it was just the bird.

It appears to be some sort of woodpecker, and I'm guessing it's digging up bugs.  I think it must be a female since it has just a hint of red on it's neck.

We've had a lot of hummingbirds around too, but I neglected to get them fed so we haven't seen as many as I would have liked.  I had a feeder up just after my boys gave me one for Mother's Day.  That was before the four year old played pinata with it and a broom. (insert angry face here) lol

We will definitely miss the trees and grass in this yard.  I will not miss the irrigation ditch.  The view at the new place is amazing.  And while I wish we could have trees too, at least there is a large deck on the main floor, and we have a walk-out basement under it, so there will still be shade to relax in while I watch my boys playing in the foreground, cows grazing just beyond them, and a magnificent mountain view beyond that.  Sounds idyllic, don't you think?  Oh, and did I mention, I'll be dropping the daycare, so it will also be quiet and peaceful... well, if you consider living with three young boys quiet in peaceful lol.  In comparison to my current life, trust me.  It will be quiet and peaceful ;)

Brand-Name Finds at Yard Sales

 This past weekend was full of great brand-name finds.  I found these two Pampered Chef stone casserole pans - the one on the right is really deep.  And there was a scraper included too.  I'm almost as excited about the scraper as I am about the pans - lol.  I have been needing a new one and trying to get one for a year (long story you don't care about).  I got all this for $10.

Then there were the Miche purses.  I have one of the bigger bags but had always wanted a medium sized one too - especially with this particular brown and black cover.  It came with the orange cover too - the whole set for $15 which is amazing.

And then I also found a Scentsy warmer in my decorating theme - moose, bear, fish.  I have one already that my oldest son gave me, but it's a Christmas one (not that it mattered - I use it year round).  But I really like the look of this one, which I snagged for $5.

I'm ready for snow too.  I didn't get these on a yard sale, but through out local facebook for sale page.  The two on this side of the trailer are my recent purchases.

The red one is a Yamaha Phazer II.  It's my most recent steal.  I picked it up for $200.

The Yamaha VMax 500 was $300.  I've showed you that one before.  Now we have three machines - enough for everyone in our family of driving ability to drive (that's if you consider the nine year old old enough to drive one lol).  The other machine on the trailer belongs to my father-in-law.  Okay, I'm ready.  It can snow now. Wait.  Maybe not until we get moved to our new place (which we will be starting to do this weekend).  Didn't know we were moving, did you?  Well we found a new rental which we love.  We sign the lease Friday so we'll have the long weekend to work on moving.  Should be fun. :/  I'm excited to be moving, but not thrilled to think about the amount of work involved.  Oh and a bonus ... we can head out on the snowmachines from the house!  No trailer :)

The Denver Zoo

 My daughter's flight was on Friday, so on Saturday we loaded up the crew and headed to the zoo.  The first order of business was to apply sunscreen liberally - spf 60 - and we were still a little red in places.  Then the nine year old signed Bert the Hippo's birthday card.  Bert is 57 - the second oldest hippo living in US Zoos.  Bert wasn't in much of a visiting mood.  We saw his backside but that was it.

 It was crazy how close the kids could get to the animals - thankfully mostly through glass, as was the case with the viper...

And the boa.  We saw him curled up right by the glass, then saw this picture of one eating a gazelle...

Like this one.

The boys liked the zoo - especially before it got overly hot and we were all tired.

We got to watch a special program that featured a bunch of different types of birds.

They were all trained to go to certain spots, including several who flew out and landed on perches over the audiences.

 My sister and her husband rented a jeep to drive their daughter around in.  It was a two-seater so my boys took turns riding with her.  I had my double stroller too (the red one in the background).

Even the nine year old took a turn with his uncle Mario Andretti manning the engine.  It was a pretty wild ride.  (You really ought to see Mario driving those race car carts at Home Depot.  When he takes my boys, I make a point of going the other direction and pretending like I don't have children - ha).

The zoo had a bird building that was like a rain forest.  We were out in the open with the birds, which was pretty cool.

The four year old especially liked it.

Can you see what they're looking at.  They could have touched the bird if they had tried.

It was a very pretty bird too, with a bright red mohawk.

At first I thought this was a toucan, but it is actually called a hornbill I think.  It's a huge bird.

 They also had peacocks there.  We never got to see one open it's fan though.  Toward the end of the day we saw some peacocks loose on the grounds too.  Pretty cool.

Can you sleep standing on one foot, with your head turned completely backwards resting on your back?  Yeah. I thought not.  I can't for the life of me see how this could be comfortable ... or how they could keep from tipping over.

 See the baby birds in this nest?  We got to watch the mama feeding them.  Pretty cool.

I thought this was a pretty one.

The zoo had a carousel too, so we took turns watching the strollers and rode it.  My niece didn't stay on her animal very long.

See the cheetah in the middle behind the row of polar bears? That's my nine year old.

My brother-in-law convinced my niece to ride with him at the end.  See the animal they are on?  It's called an okapi.  It's back legs are like a zebra, the middle is a rich red brown, the head is giraffe-like with the bumps and a long neck and the front legs have other strange stripes.  It was my favorite animal at the zoo.

 Here's a picture of the real thing.  I wish he would have turned sideways too.

Anyway, after the nine year old and his uncle and cousin rode the carousel, it was my turn to attempt it with the two little boys.  The four year old was panicking so bad he scared the two year old so that he wouldn't stay on his animal either.  I had chosen a stationary animal for the four year old but he wouldn't even sit on it when it wasn't moving.

 We did much better when we sat on the bench.  That's why I chose the animals I did - so we could easily move to the bench.

When we got off the carousel the four year old told me "I'm going to ride the train instead.  It will be safer."

 The two year old started out on the seat with the nine year old but crawled back to me (in the seat behind them) before the train even started moving.

Second row is my sister's family :)

The pace of this ride was much more to the liking of my four year old.

And it turned out that the four year old was correct. It was a safer (and much slower) ride.  At one point, several of the men, including the engineer, had to keep getting off the train and pushing.

And here's what we had for lunch. FUN.  We found a food truck inside the zoo and had burger sliders.

The cone part is full of tater tots and the burgers had an option for "style."  The boys chose "Plain Jane" - which was just pickles and ketchup and mustard.  I ordered "The Jam" which had bacon onion jam and blue cheese.  It was excellent. :)

After lunch we headed off to find the monkeys.  These fun birds were on "Monkey Island."  I forget what they're called.

 And then we found my four year old's favorite animal ever.  He's pretty sure he is a monkey.  He is always telling me "I look like a monkey."

The two year old was pretty excited about the bears.  That was probably his favorite thing.  That and the giant snakes he could get inches away from.

 The people who had been "visiting" these monkeys before we got there should have been kicked out of the zoo.  They were beating on the glass and screaming/growling at the monkeys and had them all riled up.  Unfortunately monkey see, monkey do, and we had to work to get the four year old to quit hitting the glass.

He LOVES monkeys and thought they loved him back because they were "talking" to him.

It was really fun to see him seeing real monkeys for the first time ever.  He has several stuffed animal monkeys and is always pretending to be one.

There were beautiful flowers all around the zoo.  This one was the size of a small dinner plate.

 There were a lot of fun things for the kids to do.  This was in the monkey area.  This is our whole crew of little people.

 These were the hugest camels I have ever seen.  Must be a different kind than they usually take around to circuses and fairs.  They were enormous.

By afternoon it was SO hot we thought we might die.  Okay, maybe not die, but everyone was completely exhausted and overheated.

 The water fountains were few and far between.  They really wanted you to buy from their ridiculously overpriced concessions.

 When we did find one, we drenched the boys heads and refilled our cups.

 Our two year old decided it was safer to dip his hand into the water stream, then lick his fingers and repeat the process.  It was pretty cute.

So after everyone thought they were too exhausted to continue, we rushed through the rest of the zoo, taking the long route so we could go by the elephants and giraffes, then we headed for the air conditioned vehicle.

 Pretty much everyone in the back of the Excursion crashed right away.