We had such a great time with the kids this summer. One day we rented canoes and went to Lake Mead for the day. It was a no planning kind of day, luckily outdoor rec at the base had canoes. Dylan was teething and refusing to take a nap. He fell asleep in the car, but didn't get a very long nap. Brenden and Dylan were in my canoe with Maverick, and Ben had Sarah, Stetson and Barrett. We had a trailer for the canoes that made unloading so easy. We loaded the kids and dogs and started out for an island a little ways away. Our canoe started out okay, but a few minutes in, Dylan was loosing it. He was tired, didn't want to were a life jacket, and just had a bad attitude. He was screaming and just wanted to be held. Luckily Ben came over and tied a dog leash to our canoe and pulled us to the island. Dylan still just wasn't having a great attitude. He cheered up later on when he got to go swimming. The island was awesome. The dogs got to run as much as they wanted, we all loved going swimming and the water felt great. It was about 80 degree's and was like bath water. There were minnows everywhere, we wish we would have had a net. Sarah tired to catch them with her hands, but those fish were just so fast she couldn't get one. She had lots of fun trying. Brenden and Ben went exploring, the dogs were following but came back to the water since the rocks were so hot. On the way back Dylan was a little easier, but we decided not to chance it and tied the canoes together to make a pontoon boat. That made it easier to hold Dylan and paddle on just one side while Ben paddled on the other. Just before getting back Dylan had another meltdown and fell asleep in my arms. So we went back to the first way of being pulled. Ben got a really good workout that day. Dylan got his teeth in that night and was back to being a happy boy the next day. He is the biggest drama queen that I know. The kids had a great time, and Brenden did a great job with paddling. We had a great day playing at the lake.
24th of July
We went to the 24th of July parade with all the kids. We met some friends and the kids had a great time playing together. The parade had a lot of kids with water guns squirting the crowd. I think the kids in the parade were targeting babies. We had three babies watching the parade and they got hit the most, usually right in the face. We had a pancake breakfast, and the kids played in the bounce house. The fire department came and sprayed everyone with water and the kids were soaked most of the day. We ended the day with snow cones and sliding down the hill on blocks of ice. It was a really fun, very hot day. We went back home, went swimming and felt much better.
Shooting
Weekends can be a bit of a sore subject for us. With Ben's religion, he has church on Saturday's and try's not to buy anything or do a lot on Saturday's. I have church on Sunday, and try not to buy anything or do a lot on Sundays. When we first started dating we realized that we would not be able to do anything on weekends if we both lived our religions the way that we were. So we compromised that if we were doing things together we would be okay. Let me start off this story by saying that my Dad has always told us that if you do something on Sunday someone will get hurt. Ben had just taken two weeks off to spend some time with the family. When we first got the kids it was Red Flag at work and so work was really busy. For two weeks Ben was flying a few times a day, and working crazy hours. He would be mornings one day and flying nights the next. He was working about twelve hour days, and mostly just coming home to sleep. He had to go in for two Sundays in a row, and was just not getting anytime with the kids. It was really hard for him, and he had two weeks off as soon as it was over. We were headed to Big Bear, CA on Monday and that weekend we were getting things ready to go on a vacation. Ben had some friends that wanted to go shooting on Sunday, and shooting is a huge stress relief for him. Brenden has a Savage Arms .22 that we keep here for him, and Sarah really wanted to learn how to shoot a gun. So we all went. It turned into one of those days that nothing was really going right. We got there and got our shade and everything set up, right on top of a huge ant hill. Before very long huge black ants were everywhere, including crawling up the kids pants. I always thought ants in your pants was just a funny saying, it's not funny at all. Brenden was miserable, and Sarah was crying and had to take her pants off in the car. We moved the car and were getting things set up again, Dylan was in his backpack and kicked a rock and toppled himself face forward into the ground. He was scraped up and crying, it was so sad. He had a small cut above his eye, and a few scrapes on his cheek. After he calmed down Ben taught the kids how to shoot. Brenden is amazing, he is such a good shot, and did so well with the targets. Sarah did really well, and had a good time with her Dad. She is fearless and wanted to shoot every gun. I loved watching Ben teaching his kids how to act around guns. He was so patient with them and such a good teacher. I got to shoot my gun, a Glock 27, and it's so much fun. I shot Ben's FNAR 308, and loved that one. Ben did really well shooting bottles in the air with his shot gun. Ben blew up some stuff with an exploding target, and the kids thought that was so cool. Sarah was really impressed. We had a fun afternoon. While we were cleaning up, Brenden had Dylan in the back of the car playing, Sarah opened up the car door and Dylan tumbled out head first. I think that was the scariest moment of my life seeing my little tiny baby falling out of the car. He got a little more scraped up, but was okay. He cried for just a minute and was fine. Sarah was crying because she was so sad she hurt the baby, we were getting her calmed down that it was an accident, Brenden calmed down, because he was watching him, and Dylan calmed down. I think that my heart stopped seeing Dylan fall out, so it took some time for me to calm down too. Just one of those days, hope it doesn't happen very often. Great way to start a family vacation.
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| Colt Arms 5.56, FNAR 308, Savage Arms .22 |
