whobody catches fish?

The kids LOVE to go fishing at grandpa's pond.

We have only gone a few time, but it has been very fun 

(and surprisingly, it has gone pretty well.)

The older 3 can all pretty much cast by themselves.

Keaton and Lola will do their best to try to take fish off of the hook.

So far, Jason and I still do the worms.

NOW as for catching fish: Nash has been the champ!

He seriously catches a ton of fish every time 

(compared to the others).

The instant he casts out his bait, 

he gets a bite, and he reels in a fish!

It is amazing.

Mr. Lucky.

(he even catches big ones)

The other 2 do well too...but they begin to get frustrated when Nash can't miss...so they usually start moving around trying to find a better spot.

They also LOVE the occasional gator ride from grandpa.

Cruz LOVES to see the fish. 

It brings him pure joy.

Fun times with Uncle Kenny's grand daughter.

Everyone piled in...but they did NOT ride like that. 

This was for picture taking purposes only.

whobody is full of sand?

We have only gotten the kids out on the river a few times this summer. 

It was SO busy, and the water was high for so long, that it just didn't happen. 

Now, in late August, it seems we are able to make it work. 

(Which, with the low water, is PERFECT for the kids.)

The kids have been pretty much sticking to the sand when we go to the sandbar, 

which makes it much more relaxing for me. 

(I guess they really don't think it is that much 

fun to run around in water 

that is only ankle deep.)

Below, Cruz is taking Keaton some sand for his project.

Keaton always has some sort of project that he gets into on the sandbar, and eventually the others join in to "help".  This usually goes okay. 

 Cruz is probably the LEAST helpful (as you might have guessed).

He usually gets into or onto whatever Keaton is working on, 

but Mr. Tolerant doesn't seem to mind and never gets mad at Cruz for wrecking things. 

Now...if Nash wrecks something it is a different story.

Okay, so THIS is what Cruz does 

every.single.time. we go to the sandbar.

I don't get it.

This is also what he does with food he doesn't like at home too.

Note: he doesn't like cherry tomatoes.

Lately, Cruz, still extremely lovable, has turned into a bit of a 

whiney pants.

Here is a picture of whining.

Looks serious, doesn't it.

Look at them all working together! 

Having 4 kids is really a lot of work, but boy, it is awesome to see them all playing together!

Isn't he cute?

I just don't get why he COVERS himself with sand!

Ahh, finally venturing into the deep, deep, water.

I simply love time with my family on the river.

I won't mention how frustrating the whole "telling them to pick up and get on the boat so we can go home" a million times and then having a stressful ride home is. (okay, I know, I mentioned it anyway.)  Someday either they or I will get the hang of it.

whobody finally used their Christmas present?

Our Christmas gift to our kids this year was a tube for our boat.  

We finally got it out and on the river in July!

First, of course, we decided to test it out with our friends...

you know, make sure it was safe and everything.  

They are excellent guinea pigs.

 But, they are probably not very good role models for safety while tubing.

(hee hee)

Keaton and Lola: if you are reading this, Gabe was just showing us the kinds of things for you kids to NOT do while you are riding on the tube.

One thing we did learn on our adults only tubing afternoon is that it is 

ALMOST impossible to flip the 

Great Big Bertha. 

Almost.

A few days later we actually let the kids get on the tube!  

First I got on the tube with Lola. 

That went awesome... 

(she wasn't even scared a little bit, which didn't surprise me too much.)  

Then, I took Keaton and Nash out....

but didn't get any pictures, because Jason was driving, 

and Keaton is my back-up photographer.  

Now...you should know that 

Cruz threw a FIT the whole time I was out there with anyone else

so, we thought we would give him a turn too.  

In the picture below, he is crying because we weren't moving yet. 

He either wanted the tube to be moving, OR he wanted to get into the big bath. After we got going, Cruz LOVED riding on the tube too.  

After I rode with each of the kids for a while, we decided to let them try it 

on their own.

They had a BLAST.  

Keaton was the most surprising for me...

I thought he would be much more timid...

because he has always been extremely cautious and careful.  

He had NO worries on the tube.

 (Actually, I think if he would have thought of it, 

he would have tried some of Gabe's tricks to flip the tube.) 

All in all...this was a great purchase. 

I do hope to instill a little more 

"respect of the river" in the kids...

they do not have enough fear of it (but it also seems a little weird to me to TRY to instill fear in my kids....because they are usually SO fearful!)

 We do LOVE having the river as a place for our family adventures!

We are so blessed.

whobody went to the fair?

Well...here I sit, browsing through my pictures from the summer...and I will tell you! 

There is SO much I haven't written about and shared.  I love having pictures of my kids. I love sharing them. And...I plan on SOMEDAY getting organized enough to get this transferred over to some sort of photo book to print my blog as a family scrapbook. (I have started this process...but adding new posts to this blog always seems to take priority over creating this family scrapbook....I would LOVE to find some sort of person or program that would do that FOR me. :))

So...we went to the fair.

The fair is one of my 

all.time.favorite.things.of.the.summer.  

It seems that other parents I know either LOVE the fair, or HATE it. 

Luckily...we love it, and so do our kids. 

(Yet another example of trying to keep the bar set low for entertainment :))  

The kids' favorite part of the fair is the animals! Here are LOTS of pictures of the kids walking through the barns...all 4 nights we went. They really enjoy animals!

Bombpa Sheryl & Cruz: twinsies....

they even have the same look on their face!

Cruz and a goat....having a moment.

These pictures are SO out of order :) This is from the last night of the fair. 

The kids got their faces painted! 

Keaton was a good sport...and Nash and Lola were in 7th heaven!

Sometimes this seems to cause more pain at the end of the night when it is time to wash it off, than the joy it brings during the fair!

The other thing the kiddos loved was...THE RIDES!!  

Cruz didn't' get to ride many, but had fun running around.

He did ride one ride with Dad while we were at the bull bash.  He was probably the youngest kid ever on that merry mixer.  

Dad is WAY more fun than mom.  

LOVES his binkie and blankies.

On Saturday of the fair, they had a Bull Bash... here is Lola in her cowgirl outfit.

(We need to get this girl a cowboy hat.)

Another favorite....ice cream!!! 

Cruz loved playing on the tractors/lawnmowers. (Usually we head here because it is cool and in the shade, but this year the fair weather was actually COOL anywhere!) Crazy. 

It was awesome for this pregnant chick who can't handle the heat.

The best part of the whole fair.

Story:  On the first night of the fair, my mom took the kids through the exhibition hall to sign up for door prizes.  At the sheriff's booth, the grand prize was a Razor scooter. Nash came out of the exhibition hall 

FULLY CONVINCED that the "schooter" was his 

because he signed up for it and he knew he was going to win.

Then, every time we walked through there throughout the weekend, he would ask if we were picking up his "schooter" yet?  I would explain that he probably wouldn't win it because his name would have to be drawn out of lots of names.  He just kept looking at me like I was crazy...because he was sure that scooter was HIS.

Fast forward to Sunday night. The last night of the fair...we walked through the exhibition hall one more time, joked to Jamie at the "schooter booth" that we were ready to pick up his scooter (she was usually at the booth when Nash would show us the scooter he was going to win).... and then we headed over to play on the lawn mowers and tractors one more time before heading home.  About 5 minutes later, Jamie came running out, and said that Nash's name got drawn for the scooter!!!   I gave her the look like....you totally rigged it.  She explained that SHE didn't even draw, it was someone else....I couldn't believe it.  Nash just had this look on his face like "I told you so....see Mom, you should have believed me." 

Seriously, that kid is SO lucky. If you ever want to win a door prize or raffle...sign him up. He seems to win everything!!! Seriously.   (But, if you sign him up and win something, we expect a 10% cut of your winnings.)

I have never seen a 3 year old SO PROUD. 

It was so much fun to have him win it!

He even got to get his picture taken with the County Sheriff! 

He was very excited...and a little nervous.

We had an excellent time at the fair. Love Love Love that place!

(but I always hate when it is over, 

because THAT, my friends, 

is the end of summer.)