The Three Musketeers

The three were playing with Molly and I wasn't hauling Jacob, so I took pictures of their tomfoolery. We rearranged the benches to take advantage of the fire pit to roast hotdogs.

Tyler

Abby

Matthew

Tyler and Abby

Josh turns 11 on Saturday

He had to work through a treasure hunt in order to get his gift. This was his first clue.

Of the 15 clues, one sent him to the mailbox. Eric was his buddy helping him solve the puzzles.

One was on the gate, but the boys had a hard time figuring out that clue.

Finally!! And the big box contained a POTATO LAUNCHER!

Disney World in February.

See all the empty "people movers" at Disney? We faced very few lines, but there is plenty of waiting time (for a bus, taxi, tram, etc.). I took these pictures since I never had a camera handy as we strolled through the park.

On the monorail!

A visit from the cousins.

Bethany and Jacob

Candice and Jacob

Bethany, Candice and the boys.

Fossil Rim in Glen Rose, Texas

The idea is to drive through the safari-style park and toss food pellets to the animals. It is lot of fun and we have gone through this park 6-7 times through the years. This latest time was really great because the animals were more friendly than usual, AND very hungry. Three of our boys rode in the back of a friend's pick-up truck in front of us, and the rest of ours hung out the windows of our Suburban tossing food to the natives.

It was all well and good at first, but as the taller animals came toward the truck and our Suburban, bravery turned into sheer panic. ;-) Thus, only Clay and Josh got to actually touch animals that came close enough to eat out of their hands.

This pic is of Clay (driving) feeding a zebra.

This is one of the first animals to come up on my side of the vehicle.

This Fallow deer was aggressive about it. Not the demeanor you associate with a deer. I think it was a Fallow deer....correct me if I mislabel these.

Josh was at the back window and was delighted to taunt this deer farther and farther into the vehicle. All his brothers had cleared out by this time. Notice the LONG tongue trying to reach the treat. Josh was laughing so hard I was certain he'd lose focus and a disaster would ensue.

This was some sort of goat. Once again, Clay was a good deal braver than I.

Who has the best baby rocking technique?

We start with Eric....the baby gets extremely heavy after a few minutes, so Eric's efforts peter out quickly.

Jack is a good deal better. Jake conks out within 4 minutes of Jack's rythmic back-pounding.

Then, there is Uncle Johnny. Jake loved it, as you can see by his slack mouth and limp-rag pose. John was doing great until about 3o minutes into it. He handed Jake back and began to rub his arms. ;-)

The smallest Christmas elf.

The car seat does a fairly good job too.

The Christmas tree!

Decorating the tree!

Where does this one go?

Oh my, do you see what I see?

Josh hanging his favorites right in front and above where Abby can reach.

Jack hanging his as far OUT of reach as possible too!