Parade, Fishing, & More

We haven't been up to much, but here are a few things going on around here.  There was a parade in town which everyone loved! The boys went fishing. We've been hanging out.

Waiting for the candy.

We've got a bunch of bucket-heads around here!

Can't grab the candy fast enough.

As soon as they realized that waving caused people to throw candy, they were waving to EVERYONE!!

That nose wrinkle!!

Just so lovable!!

Love our country and small town parades with horses!

That's a BIG tractor!

Taking inventory of their loot!

Night fishing with Daddy and Papa.

He thinks he's such a big kid!

Typical boys.

Bentley's dresser that is finally complete!

I love the lined drawers.

The drawer pulls came through, and I love them!

I get 100s of random pictures like this on my phone all the time!

Kyler earned these cool glasses from the library.

Another of the 100

Mostly the boys just take pictures of Bentley.

The boys have been shooting around, and we've decided that we need a bigger goal! My other video with all the boys shooting wouldn't upload for some reason, but here's Radley's shot!  

This is just a typical evening in our house.

Last Days in Missouri

We had a few days to recover from our DC trip before heading home. Their friendly neighbor Gene let us come swim in her pool one day, and Papa Dude took the boys on an adventure at the Missouri River. We were sad to leave Oma and Papa Dude's house, but we were excited to get home and see Daddy. Hopefully it won't be so long before we see everyone again.

Cool Radley

Always a cannonball from Kyler.

Radley was very proud of himself for 'swimming' even though he wouldn't get off the step the entire time!

Emma and Kyler

Emma and Damon

Bentley and Emma

Damon soaring high

Kyler catching some air

A serious game of Tenzi going on

Two cool hat dudes!  Radley was trying on all of Papa Dude's hats.

A common face on Kyler these days.  The repeated phrase at Oma and Papa Dude's was, "Pouting gets you nothing."

Bentley getting in on the PlayStation action with her own 'girl' controller.

How cute is this??

The river excursion

Eating their picnic lunch

They found a rescue crew doing training drills and were excited to watch them.  The guys were really nice to the boys and let them try on helmets, waved to them, etc.

Standing by the equipment truck

The Missouri River

Radley taking the 'fast' way back to the car.

They were so good for Papa Dude he let them get ice cream!

They found almost everything on their scavenger hunt too!

All worn out from such a long day.

The 4th of July

I was excited to be in Washington DC for the 4th of July; however, it was raining. We woke up to some really good donuts that Chris and his mom got for us. Then we decided to go to Mount Vernon (George Washington's Estate) because the church offers to let people park in their parking lot and in return they get free tickets, so we were able to go for free and thought it was a pretty patriotic thing to do! After Mount Vernon we ate some burgers (how American) and chicken nuggets (even more American) and did sparklers. If it wasn't raining I was planning on going into DC to watch the fireworks at the mall, but it wasn't worth fighting crowds, rain, and little boys for fireworks I could see on TV!

How could I miss taking a picture with George and George??  It is his partial name sake.  One of my great grandpas was George Washington McKinney, who was obviously named after the first president.  He had a brother named Napoleon Bonaparte.  I guess their parents liked strong leaders!

Hundreds of little flags in front of the mansion.

Hitching a ride on Papa Dude.

This guy was amazing on the flute.

Waiting on the fireworks.

They played music during the fireworks

Oma and Bentley

They had Colonial fireworks which were done during the day.  It was pretty neat.  Some looked like regular fireworks and others just looked like colored smoke.

Despite the look on his face, I think he was having a good time.

More fireworks

Colonials

Martha Washington; we couldn't find George.

The view from a side porch of the river.  On a sunny day it would have been really pretty.

The mansion house where he lived and died.  There is no kitchen in the main living area; it is off to the left right to keep the big house cooler.  The boys went with several others to look at the animals on the property while I went through the house with Emma and Zadi.  They told me that all the animals are of direct lineage to the animals that lived on property during George Washington's life.  I thought that was pretty cool.

Worn out after such a long day!

Radley really wasn't sure about the whole sparkler thing.

The boys wouldn't stay still long enough to get a cool shot with the camera.

God Bless the USA!!!

Bentley really wanted to touch the sparks.

Took this for Kenney

Light 'em up!!

Bentley and Oma saying Hi from the balcony.

One more from this cute happy boy!!

I don't usually see Radley's name on things so I thought this was pretty cool; it was on a license plate cover.

Papa Dude found a Bentley in the parking lot so naturally we HAD to take a picture of Bentley with a Bentley, and we had to stop for gas in Bentleyville Pennsylvania.