Happy Easter

Spring Eggstravaganza

Turns out the Saturday before Easter, Santee Lakes req park has a festival with egg hunts, rides and all kinds of fun. Caden was pretty excited so I went straight to the ticket line to stock up on tickets. As I was there I took a look at the menu. Some highlights:

Big slide 3 tix, he should like that.
Blow up jumping castle 2 tix, sounds fun.
Bumper cars 5 tix, prolly not old enough.
Pony rides 5 tix, oh that's right up his alley.
Elephant rides 4 tix, wow no foolin, this I have to see.

So I took a roll of tickets and we headed out for an elephant adventure. Apparently my imagination got the best of me.


I'd have to say the big slide was the day's favorite. But a close second was the pony ride. Our lil cowpoke was about as excited as could be.


Maybe it was spending the day at the rodeo last week, but as soon as the ponies started walking, Cowboy Cade put his hand up and was trying to make the whistle. When the guy running the ride stopped the ponies, he asked Caden if he make the whistle, lol.

Nightly Ritual

This is how most nights wind down on the ranch. M-Alright buddy, time for bed. Let's go brush those bucks. G- Teeth, brush your teeth. Don't say bucks, kids will make fun of him. C-I wanna brush my teeth. Daddy can i have Thomas tooth soap. No I want bear tooth soap. M-You want bear tooth soap. C-No Thomas tooth soap, I want Thomas tooth soap.


He's actually a pretty good brusher. And can spit like a AA pitcher.


And then after the rinse...'Daddy do the moostache'

Granny's Birthday

What to do for Granny's birthday? Why not load up the kids and head out to the Lakeside Rodeo. We got there a little early and took a tour of the chutes. Had a little lunch and then the show began. It was about 90 so hats and sunscreen were in order...as were the ice cream floats and a cool drink of water.

We brought out the cousins for the show as well. The third event was highly anticipated. Stick horse race for kids 3 to 6. At 3 yrs and 2 weeks Cowboy Cade was a tad younger than most. But Emily had the other end of the spectrum. Here they are at the starting line...


Emily rounded the corner in a tie for first, but a late stumble cost her the win. She's the gal closest to the camera with the hat falling off. She had those boys right where she wanted em.


Young Caden on the other hand...never got out of the starting block. At one point all the kids were lined up as Cade clung to my leg. The announcer says 'wait a minute I see a young cowboy short on legs big on boots in the back row.' At which point two rodeo queens come over to escort our lil guy to the starting line. He burst out in tears like they were coming to string him up. But he sure looked good standing there with a slight tremble in his knees.


Fun day with the family. We all had a great time.

Pillow pad

I don't know what it is about lil boys...but this one loves to sleep on his tractors. Here's a typical 2 tractor setup. Form the base with a Caterpillar dozer sidled up to a Deere, top with blanket.

Birthday Morning

Happy Birthday lil buddy. Big day on the ranch planned. By 7am Caden was getting ready. Cowboy hat, check. Cowboy boots, check. Jumbo plastic bat, check. Backup bat and balls, check. Bob the Builder tool belt, check. Various plastic tools, check. Forgot to change out of jammies...typical.

Dressed and ready for guests

Ranch Play

Kids bucking station, feeding the animals, ride the tractor...all the usual ranch day play fun items.

Birthday Cake

Party Time

Zoo time with Alexander

Our friends from Hamburg came for a visit. Gayle and Caden showed them around the Zoo.

Easy Access

We have a nice wood bin that can hold about a full cord. Of course the designer of said bin, the previous owner Bud, must have had plans to park his tractor on this thing. The lid is a reinforced 3/4" full size plywood with 16 interlocking 1x6 pine tacked in with some 3800 framing nails. I have to stretch, warm up, then perform an unspotted military press just to access this behemoth. But I digress...

I cut a nice little side door to give our young cowpoke Cade unfettered access to the black widows and snakes therein.


(another fine RL Engineering masterpiece)

Snow Way...Way

Reminds me of the stories my grandad used to tell of great-great grandaddy driving a mule train to Saratoga Springs during the great blizzard of 1888. Experts are calling the blizzard of 2011 worse than '67 and nearly as bad as 1888. Our ranch was spared from the teeth of this mighty storm. By that, what I really mean is...I never had any stories, nor any relatives in New York and the big storm that hit the midwest in 2011 was about three weeks before these pics were taken. But in all honesty we got at least 30-40mm of snow last night.

zzzzzz

Little guy was so tuckered out from playin in the snow, he fell asleep in the most uncomfortable chair in the house.

Smooth Stroke

The funny part here was the second swing when he caught me by surprise and roped a liner between me and first base. You can hear my boots clicking half way down the driveway.