Lander Trip #7

Last one!!!

Friends

Courtney, Dylan, and I each got to spend time with our friends from Lander. It was so good to see each of them and renew our friendships. I got some great shots of Dylan with his friends, but for some reason I never got any with Courtney. Maybe next year.

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Shane was like a member of our family while we lived in Lander. I babysat her for about 4 1/2 years. Her and Dylan just love each other, although it took a few minutes for them to stop being shy and remember what good buddies they are.

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We went to the park with our best friends, the Shearins and the Goulds. It was great to catch up with Amber and Joni and remember one of the reasons I miss Lander. Here is Dylan with Mina and Samantha.

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We went back to our old neighborhood and played with our friends there, the Nielsens and the Welshs. It was great for the kids to pick up right where they left off with these friends. And Courtney got to have a sleepover with Johanna and Ella, so fun for her.

Dylan and Sam, they were supposed to have a 2nd play date, since the first one didn't last very long. Unfortunately Dylan got sick and we had to cancel. He sure misses you Sam!

Dylan and Anna

What a great trip we had, getting to be with family and friends. We're hoping to make it back out to Lander next year. After all, we get our dental work done at the same time. See everybody next year!

Lander Trip #6

Grandma Jo Camp

Every year that at least a few grandkids are visiting my parents, my mom holds "Grandma Jo" camp. The kids love it and hate if they aren't in Lander when it happens. She even makes matching t-shirts for everyone. They had a great day filled with lots of fun activites.

Kicking off Grandma Jo Camp. They look good . . . and clean.
Front Row: Carter, Gracie, Travis
Back Row: Courtney, Grandma Jo, Joshua, Ian, Dylan, Caleb

Having fun!

Dylan and Caleb are such good buddies.

While waiting for Grandma Jo to get some things ready, I took the kids on rides on my dad's 4 wheeler. They had so much fun and wanted to just keep riding.

Courtney later learned how to drive it herself, with me on the back.

Taking Travis for a spin.

Then Kim and I took over when I taught her how to drive. This picture was when I convinced her to go fast. She was scared to death, but loved it.

Bubble Time

MMMM, watermelon is so good!

Hot Dog Roast

Can't have a campfire without s'mores!

Such a fun day.

They ended the day with a campout in the front yard. Actually, only the 4 oldest slept in the tent. The others played for a while, then went inside to their safe, warm beds where mom and potty were nearby.

Lander Trip #5

Root Beer Floats

I loved these pictures, so I just had to do a whole post on this activity. Grandma Shane bought stuff to make Root Beer floats for everyone. MMMMM! Even the kids that didn't really want them, had fun sipping up the foam.

Grandpa pours them out.

Courtney

Ian, prefers an Orange Float

Gracie

Travis

Dylan

Caleb

Carter

Lander Trip #4

Are you sick of all these Lander posts yet? Not too many more, I promise.

Fun Outings

We did a lot of fun little outings with the kids while in Lander. I have a lot of pictures, so bear with me.

Pioneer Museum
We made 3 different trips to the museum, trying to do a little each time, without the kids getting too bored.

They have a lot of old farming equipment displayed outside. My grandma told us how each piece was used.





They spent quite awhile trying to figure out how this hay baler worked.

Little Joshua, Kim's youngest, along for the ride.

Dylan testing out the equipment.

Ian, Jeff's son, trying it out.

Courtney, posing in a buffalo sculpture.

Reading Indian stories in the teepee.



Experiencing the old school house.

Courtney and Ian in the old chapel.

Caleb, Dylan, and Carter, in the old chapel.

The kids each got a turn at ringing the church bell. It was pretty funny to watch the younger kids get lifted off the ground as the rope went up.

Travis just didn't have the muscles to make it ring.

Dylan was pretty proud of himself.

Courtney, showing off her one-handed technique.

Swimming

We took our usual trip to the Lander pool, always a hit.

Lander Trip #3

4th of July

We had a lot of fun on the 4th, with a day filled with activities. Unfortunately, no one was taking pictures, so I don't have too many to show what we did.

In the morning, Kim, Jeff, Matt, and I woke up early and went down to Main Street to participate in Lander's Half Marathon. Matt and Jeff were awesome and ran. Kim and I had decided to do this just for fun and walk the whole thing. We has a blast. We talked and laughed the whole way. We thought it would take us about 4 hours, we weren't going to push ourselves. But we got a little competitive out there and tried passing a few people, (especially when Kim had to pee and we sprinted so fast to be first in line at the port-a-potty at the half way point.) Towards the end of the race, we turned onto Main Street and walked the last 2 blocks to the finish line. That part was kind of fun. Everyone was out getting ready for the parade, so the street was lined with people. A lot of them clapped for us and gave us lots of encouragement. We finished the race in 2 hours, 57 minutes. 1 hour sooner then we had planned, and we weren't the last racers out, coming in during the parade. I'm glad we did it, even though I got 2 blisters and it took me 5 days to quit being sore. We'll probably try again another year.

After the race, and eating all the free food they provided, we headed over to watch the parade. It's a typical small town parade, full of horses and tractors. The kids love catching candy and getting sprayed with water from the fire trucks.

We then went to my parents house to relax for a while. I should have taken a nap, which I would later regret, but there was always something to do or someone to talk to. My cousin Natalie came with her family. I hadn't seen her for so long so it was good to meet her kids and visit. My parents made a great BBQ for us and I ate and ate some more. (I was so hungry that day.)

We started setting up to do fireworks. (In Lander, anything goes. Out of town, where my parents live, they can do anything they want, any day of the year. In town, it is only allowed on the 4th. But seriously, anything is allowed.) I parked myself in a chair, since I could barely move and was pretty much sleep walking for being so tired, while I waited for everyone to get ready. Then a big wind storm came up. We headed inside to wait it out. But at that point, I didn't think I could stay awake, especially knowing we might not even do the fireworks if the wind kept up. This is Wyoming after all, where the wind can last for a week. So Bruce, Travis, and I headed to our camper. (We were sleeping in a friend's camper bacause of Bruce's cat allergy and the cat dander that is all over my parents house due to the cats that lived there before they bought the house.) I was a little nervous to try and sleep that night. We were right in town, where it usually sounds like a war zone from 9-12 pm every 4th of July. But I didn't need to worry, I was so exhausted that I crashed hard and didn't hear a thing.

The rest of the family did end up doing fireworks and having a great time. My sister Kim sent me some pictures that she took that night.

My parents with 7 out of 14 of their grandkids.

Grandpa, Grandma Jo, Dylan, and Courtney.

Lander Trip #2

Fireworks on the 3rd

Every year a family in Lander puts on a huge fireworks show at their house. It is the best show I've ever been to, better then any big city fireworks show. Part of the show is narration about the founding of our nation and it is all set to patriotic music. If you want to be totally inspired and go away feeling prouder then ever to live in America, be in Lander on July 3rd. (He does them on the 3rd because the 4th is the city's show and when people do their own fireworks at home.)

Carter and Dylan, getting to be buddies.

Carter, Caleb, and Dylan. Dylan hates loud noises, so we gave him these headphones to wear, but he still hated it and buried his face into me the whole time.

Bruce and Travis relaxing before the show. Travis hated the noise too and ended up sleeping through the whole thing.

Courtney got ahold of my camera for a while and took some crazy pictures of herself and others.

Another of Courtney's shots, this time of her cousin Ian.

I have a "fireworks" setting on my camera and decided to try it out for the first time. It didn't work as well as I wanted, but here's a few shots of the show.

Thanks Bills Family for a wonderful and inspiring night!