Grandpa flew in for the last leg of Grammy's visit - and so we met him and Brian down in Poulsbo.... But first we got doughnuts for the morning and checked out the Slugs everywhere (some sort of a fundraiser)
Lucas has developed this new pose..... Hmmmmm....
The boys were all excited to see Grandpa!
And we celebrated with delicious ice cream down on the waterfront.
We went for a quick (though much tougher with my stupid cast-boot) hike along a boardwalk and had fun spotting crabs and little fish. Lucas has some great observational skills - though soon he was having fun making stuff up...
Cooper got himself all tangled up, but seemed to enjoy the ride....
The boardwalk leads to a little trail through the woods....
To a cute little playground where the boys loved the bouncy toys and teeter-totters...
The next day, Lucas got to participate at Ryan Ranch too - as a Mini-Buckaroo! He loved going to see the peacocks a lot! I was so proud of him, going off with his teachers. I hid from afar and watched him - wanting to build that confidence and independence.
I got to use that time to go and watch Ethan ride - and how cool was that! He was so proud and confident on that horse - so cute too.....
Late nights and wacky schedules led to one massive meltdown from this 6 year old.... I took a picture and told him I'd show it to him the next time he wanted to go somewhere.....
And Lucas kept smiling and saying he was looking for "
Policemans to come and get you Eflan!"
After naps, all was well with the world... Lucas helped pick raspberries - and ate a million of 'em....
We said good-bye to the fam, as they went back home, and off we went to swimming. I'm so proud of the boys for the progress they've made - real little swimmers!
Wednesday was another day at Ryan Ranch for both boys and their love for all things horses grew even more - Ethan learned to trot and thought it was hilarious! As did I, since he was bouncing all over the place...
Lucas loved going on a hunt through the woods to pick weeds to feed to the different animals. He was terrified of the goat - but loved the chickens. Huh?! Those chickens are nuts! Although, I did see the goat try to eat a pigtail.....
Lucas got to go on the ponies each day and that was such a thrill for him. He chattered away the whole time - cracked me up. Those teenage girls know all about him life now....
That evening, we invited Nadia (and her mom) over for a pizza dinner and s'mores. See, we take advantage of house-sitting.....
These two just crack me up....
We had "
Sparkling Spiders" to drink (sparkling cider) and had some delicious s'mores, once Sonia and I managed to get the fire going.... Girl scout, I am not....
Thursday was Ethan's last day at the Ranch - and he was so sad... He got to show off a lot of what he learned in some races and an obstacle course, and I could not be prouder of him. He really learned a lot and they were just great with him. There were a lot of things he was nervous about and they worked him right through it - even got him really jogging by the end of it.
He knew he'd be sad to leave Honeybuns, but I don't think he realized how sad. I think there were more than a few tears shed at the end of the day....
He brought her a treat - carrots - to say thank you - and it was a crack up watching him try to hold the bucket as she went for 'em.
What a neat experience -for both of them! I've been amazed to see how the compassion they developed for animals there has transferred over into their attitudes toward our pets at home. They're begging to help care for them and do little jobs here and there. I love it!
And that brings us to today... In short (I'm impressed you are still reading) - My boot came off for good - woohoo! Lucas counted to "
ferty" by himself, and that earned him a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese (Ethan had met his goal a while ago - to learn to swim, but we'd waited). And fun, they had!
And then this just cracked me up. Lucas was sleeping, I was reading, and Ethan was developing a game - FuzzBall Attack! (By Ethan's Games)...
The goal is to get from your team's box on the top, to the correlating box on the bottom - without being taken out by any of the firebolts, bombs, etc. residing in the middle. The touch screen gives you special powers you can activate to get through and the levers at the bottom of the circle propel you back up...
Creative, yes? And way better than just playing someone else's game, methinks...
And now it's late, and I have to finish getting ready for our next great adventure..... But at least this is caught up.... One thing off the to-do list!
