The End Is Nigh!

Even though we know it's coming, the end of a football season can send a man reeling off into the nether regions of boredom and despair.  Time does not care.  We must deal with it at the time it happens, be it, college football, NFL football or our own kids' flag football seasons, which seem to be the hardest.

I think I could actually watch kids play flag football every Saturday, 52 weeks per year.

And so, on Saturday morning, another season came to an end.

A shot of Robby getting ready to "air it out" on a passing play.  His coach loved him at QB both for his arm and his ability to be the first to memorize all of his teammate's names. 

The lad, after a 19 - 6 win, getting ready to watch his little brothers game.

Caleb on defense playing as only he does...  F.A.S.T.!!

Defending the pass!  We have no shots of him running the ball, which he did, I think, 4 times during the game.  Usually, when Caleb gets the ball, it goes for half the length of the field, at least.  The boy is fast, in case I haven't mentioned that!

And so it is, another season is wrapped up and in the books, as they say.

It's Cold. "HOW COLD IS IT?"

It's been warmer this week, but last week was downright cold!  Caleb would get up around 5:45 and be almost angry that it was so cold in the house.  We don't have the furnace on and it was around the mid-50's some mornings.  I had thrown a wrinkled shirt in the dryer, cause I'm lazy, and had it run for about 7-8 minutes.  Caleb was laying on the other laundry that was still in the dryer and better yet, still warm!!   He kept saying how "cozy" it was.

What Is Chinese, Wears Cowboy Boots & Stetsons?

Another Saturday and another day of lots of stuff to do.

Robby's football game was at 10am, which means we had to be there by 9:30 for warm-ups.  Caleb's football game was at noon, which meant we needed to watch a game in the middle that we had not much interest in other than the fact that it was football!  

So at nearly 1pm, when all was said and done (both boys' teams lost today), the boys went with the Cunningham clan to Merle Hay Mall where they did some shopping and had lunch.

 Mama and myself went out to lunch with Aunt Molly and their cousin Kerby.  

Afterwards, I went over to pick the boys up from the Cunningham Castle and wouldn't you know it, they were doing something fun and didn't want to leave...  

What was it?  Riding a horse, of course!

Sadly, as it often is, I did not have my camera with me and Jill didn't think to snap pictures of Robby, who rode horse Toby, first.
 

This is the Cunningham's neighbor, Jodi (I believe), who lives immediately across the road. 

And the Chinaman commanding the beast to satisfy his wishes!

They were both super excited and wanted to do it again, but we'll hope for another chance on another day.

Vacation 2015, #2 - a little more traveling

Not much to this post... 

It was my birthday, July 10th, but that don't matter much, other than that it was a really cool drive from West Yellowstone to Ritzville, Wa.  

On our way, we saw the thunderstorm that refused to move.  It hovered over on mountain and just pounded it for hour after hour as we drove by in the distance. 

That's our first pic...   

Oh, and note to self...  don't try to take photos while you're driving at 75mph and working a phone to do your deeds.

This was in Missoula MT, as we were stopping to eat, my birthday lunch no less, at a BBQ joint called The Notorious P.I.G.   That's in direct reference to the "rapper" who had died several years prior of a gunshot after...   well, who cares... he died doing whatever it is that rappers do...   The meal itself?  Pretty dang good and the first time that opportunity presented itself  to us that we should order less food, ie-share, and not have take home food or what is otherwise known as garbage while on the road.   Good food though!

And after a thorough attempt in Spokane to find an hotel, we found ourselves "down the road" in Ritzville, WA. at a perfectly fine hotel.   The boys wanted to go swimming and they did.  Mama and Aunt Molly watched them while I was up in the room above (where this picture was taken from) writing about our adventures thus far.

Putting The Boys To Work

For the mornings when Momma works overnights, the boys go over to the neighbors house before school. 

The watch cartoons, finish homework (when "forgotten" the previous evening), she feeds them and gets them off to school. 

She also puts them to work!
 

She got them sweeping and mopping one day recently!  Note that it is about 6:30 in the morning here!

Smaller Chinese boy taking a break from work to pose!

Larger American boy taking a break from work to practice his crooning!

So now we know that it CAN be done!

2015 Pumpkin Patch kids!

Hard to believe that it's October of 2015 already! Not sure what happened to the previous nine months, but they're not relegated to the history books as time plods forward. 

It was probably our best weekend to visit a pumpkin patch and so we decided on Uncle Bills Pumpkin Farm out East of us, in Grinnell, IA.

It was formerly Carols Pumpkin Farm but it seems that Carol and her breatheren had retired some years ago.  Since Caleb had never visited this farm, we thought it best to go here. We last visited in 2011 about 2 months prior to welcoming the little lad into our family.

Sadly, the corn cannons and the pumpkin catapult are no more, but it was still some good fun. 

The big hit of the day, and worth the price of admission alone based on the expression on Caleb's face when he first spotted it, the bounce pillow!

The two wrestled and were pounding the crap out of each other until mom finally put the cabash on it.

Next we went to a magic show in the upstairs of the barn.  I took no pictures of that...  This is in the lower area of the barn after the magic show where the boys found a porcelain cow that could really be "milked".

The honey bee exhibit.

The baby chickens with two cute boys to set them off!

Cowboy Caleb.

Ropin' Robby.

Calebber McCheese measuring in at a sleek 4ft 4inches.

Robby, disappointed, measuring in at about 4ft 8inches.  He's been about 4 inches taller than Caleb for nearly 3 years and simply can't gain on the boy.

And the corn pit!

Burying Caleb in the corn.

And then, because we have to, burying Robby in the corn!

Rockin' the balance beam.  Really grumbling that we have to leave.  You can see how long the shadows are getting.

Momma Chaos and my robust self.  Photo by Robby's Photography.

And two very cute little critters caught on a hay bale.

And until next October... which will be here in what will seem like 4 months.