Lazy 5 Ranch

We had the coolest experience earlier this month, but with the all the excitement of B's birthday and the 4th, I haven't had the chance to blog about it yet--Lazy 5 Ranch. We got together with some friends and drove to Mooresville, NC. It was like we had traveled to another part of the world on a safari.

You pay admission, buy a feed bucket or two, and then drive along a meandering trail where exotic animals come right up to your car and eat. We were in two different cars, so we put all the boys in one and the girls in the other. (My friend, Amy, was brave enough to take the boys with her.)

The first animals we came across were emus.
I was creeped out. The boy's van didn't mind.
They have red eyes and beaks--
I was afraid of getting pecked!
So, the girl's van tried to slip by unnoticed.

Then... I got to feed a zebra!
Is this not the coolest thing ever?
It was like feeding the stingrays--SO exciting
and a little scary, too. He actually took the feed
bucket right out of my hand and I had to get
out of the car to get it back.

Lauren got to feed a deer.
She was very brave. Most of the other little
girls THOUGHT they wanted to feed the
animals...until they got anywhere near the car.

We saw this mommy emu with her cute
little babies surrounding her.

Water buffalo

Brandon fed a giraffe right out of his hand!
Unbelievable! (The girls had used our whole

feed bucket by this point, so we just watched.)

Here was a cute baby goat chasing his mom.

And this little baby pot-bellied pig was one
of my favorites! Whit wanted to take him home.


After you finish driving through the safari,
they have a little petting zoo area with
camels, goats, and this mini cow.

Here are the safari kids.

They had a blast and I loved it, too.
It was a little on the pricey side--I think I
paid twenty bucks for me and the kids--
but I would recommend it. Definitely worth it.

Birthday bash

So, we had Brandon's birthday party (with his friends) this weekend. It was the first one we'd ever hosted. He's only had one other party and it was at Chuck E. Cheese's. (Surprise, surprise.)

Anyway, we had a lot of fun and I'd do it again. He had seven friends come, which was a good number. There was a little bit of fighting and B got punched in the face before the party started and was crying for a minute, but he shook it off quickly and I think he's still friends with the boy who punched him. :)

We went with a Star Wars theme.

Our backyard is really fun for parties.
I drew this huge target on our b-ball court.

I didn't realize how hard it would be to draw
concentric circles that were this big.

I had bought one of those Hoverdiscs--kind of like a huge, flat mylar balloon. And our first game was throwing the Hoverdisc onto the target. (Sorry for the lack of pictures. It's hard when you're the one in charge!)

Then we turned the target into a track and had a "Podracer Challenge" with the new remote control car B got for his birthday.

Then I had hidden a Luke Skywalker and a Darth Vader figure around in the yard and divided the kids into two teams and sent them on two separate bounty hunter missions to seek out Luke and Vader. They had to follow four clues and bring their figures back. Loved that.

These balloons were part of the bounty they collected.

And we ended the night with a pinata.

Andrew believes all good parties involve a pinata at some point. I had bought a Star Wars pinata at first, but when I got it home, I realized it was a pull-string pinata. I'd never heard of that, but it doesn't involve hitting. The kids just take turns pulling a ribbon on the bottom and one of the ribbons opens a secret compartment where the candy gently falls out. Andrew's comment was, "Five and six-year-old boys need to hit things." So, I took it back and got this #6 instead. It was, of course, a huge success. (After a slight malfunction following the first swing Brandon took at it.)

The kids loved the Star Wars cake and made very specific requests of me. "I want a piece of Darth Vader's head." "Can I have part of Yoda's robe?" I tried to be accommodating, but thankfully, they were just happy to have a piece of cake. (As you can see, B isn't the only one who loves to make the "Rock on!" sign.)

Brandon had a blast opening his gifts. He mainly got Transformers and Pokemon cards and was completely THRILLED. I don't get the whole Pokemon thing, but he is sure into it right now.

And after giving all the boys their biggest sugar high of the summer, we sent them home to their families. Very successful party, I'd say.

My kids, the photographers

One of the joys of using a digital camera is that I can start training my kids early to be photographers. They can take as many bad pictures as they want and (as long as they don't drop my camera) it doesn't cost me a thing! They have both been very interested in taking pics lately. I wanted to share some of the results and what I've learned from their attempts.

First off, when the photographer is more than
2 feet shorter than the subjects,
tops of heads are bound to be cut off:

Whit almost missed Drew's head completely in this one.

This one was a little closer.

Sometimes, we'll just get glimpses of the subject:

Yep, that's my right eye.
Took a while to blink that one off.
(taken by B.)

Whitney got MOST of my face in this one.
Love that creative angle!

Secondly, I've found that kids like to photograph
(what I consider to be) random subjects.

Like this fallen b-ball hoop.
I guess it seemed photo-worthy to one of them.
(I'm not even sure who took it.)

I find that they take lots of pictures of grass.
Maybe that's because it's so plentiful in NC.

Brandon took this pic of his rock collection.
I thought he did pretty well.

Don't know if Whit was TRYING to leave
her brother out of this one or not.

Third, the photos they take open my
eyes to new perspectives.

Here is Whit's stroller-eye view on one of our walks.
I think I'd be intimidated by SUV's if I were her.
(That's B riding his bike ahead of us.)

They can sometimes catch expressions that
friends probably wouldn't make for me.
Right, Kelly? :)

And Nicolle? And Ben's foot?
both taken by Whit

Finally, every once in a while you end up
with a keeper. And a few of them have been
real masterpieces.

I think practice is making perfect for Whit.
She got my entire head on this one!

I think this is an adorable one that B took of his sister.
I love that her hair is crazy. If I were the one taking
it, I'm sure I would've tried to fix it, but this is how
she looks half the time. Why not capture it?

Can you believe how tall Andrew and I look to Whit???
I'm glad she's not afraid of us. We're giants!

Whit took this one of her friend, Leann.
Priceless.

B took this one of us on Father's Day.
Very impressive.

And he also got this perfect shot of Clara
at the 4th of July BBQ.

If they keep this up, they'll be taking family portraits and wedding photos before we know it.

Let freedom ring

I have been so excited to post about the 4th of July. Not because anything spectacular happened, but it was such a patriotic one for me. I know, I know...it's a patriotic holiday for everyone, but for some reason it really hit home for me this year. I had several moments of true gratitude for all of the freedoms we enjoy. But I think I waited too long because that enthusiasm that I felt has faded. I did want to share a couple of experiences, though.

Our church had a Freedom Festival involving all of the congregations around here. It was a great afternoon.

The whole family got decked out in our Flag T-shirts.

Then all the kids participated in a little parade through the parking lot. We decorated Brandon's scooter in red, white, and blue and he was off!

Rock on, America!

These were the leaders of the parade...
and the first in line for food when it was done.

Whit just walked with a friend.
We didn't want to endanger any bystanders
with her monocular vision on a bike. :)

You can't see her eyes, but this smile tells
exactly how she felt about being in the parade.

After a hot dog supper, there were several patriotic musical numbers. One man sang Lee Greenwood's, "God Bless the U.S.A." It brought me back to the summer after I finished Junior High--1991. My dad had been called up for active duty in the Army for Desert Storm. He was gone for the 4th of July that year and they played that song at our town's firework show. It was so touching and had me in tears back then thinking, "I really AM proud to be an American!" I'm so grateful for my dad's example of serving our country. How hard that must've been to leave his wife and five kids for 9 months! Now that I'm a mom of young kids, I have an even greater appreciation for the sacrifice that my mom made, too. (As well as all other spouses of soldiers.) I only have TWO munchkins and am occasionally on my own for a few days. I can't imagine what that must've been like for her. It was hard on the whole family, though. I REALLY missed my dad.

The other patriotic moment happened at church last Sunday. We sang, "The Star Spangled Banner" as one of our hymns, just like many congregations across the country, I'm sure. The third verse really struck me. What beautiful words:

Oh, thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust!"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

That's the third verse of our NATIONAL ANTHEM. Isn't that cool? And hasn't our country changed since it was written? I love how blatantly the credit is given to God for our free nation. No apologies. No veiled references. After singing this verse, I wanted to become more politically active in preserving the values held dear by our founding fathers. But, again, the moment has passed and I'll probably just continue to be part of the silent majority who regret that we can no longer say prayers in school, take an oath on the Bible, and that even our motto is being debated, "In God we trust." What a slacker.

On the actual Fourth of July, we went to a local parade. It was VERY short--only 15 minutes--but that was perfect.

Then we went to a BBQ with our friends. It was A LOT of fun and we had great food. What more could we ask?

Did you have any moments of sincere patriotism this 4th? Did they last, or have they faded like mine?

Brandon at SIX

Our big Brandon had a birthday this week and turned six years old! It's kind of a rough week to have a party because most of his friends are traveling. Usually we are, too, so he gets to celebrate with whatever relatives we happen to be visiting at the time. This year, we are staying put, so he got a little party with just our family and then we'll have a friend party later.

How we celebrated

We had such a fun day. We went to the library, had happy meals for lunch, and then went to the park.

We rode the train

and the carousel.

It was a perfect overcast not-too-hot day.

Then we changed into our swimsuits and met Andrew at the water park. We had a picnic dinner,

cupcakes,

and B opened his presents.
He is still the funnest kid to watch when he opens
gifts. He is completely enthusiastic and
grateful for whatever he gets.

We got the kids cleaned up (chocolate cupcakes are SOOO messy!) and went into the park for some fun in the sun. Only it wasn't too sunny. And it was kind of cold. Whit's lips were turning purple. We huddled together to keep each other warm and still had fun.

Brandon's favorite part was Shipwreck Cove.
Ready?

JUMP!

We also had fun on the lazy river and cyclone zone. And Andrew watched the kids for a little while so I could do the scary slides. Yes! Love that. The park stayed open late, but we were all done swimming before it closed.

We hung out on some lawn chairs
trying to stay warm
while Brandon entertained us with his

sweet dance moves!
And we played "I Spy" until it got dark.

Then, they had a spectacular
fireworks show.
(Ok, so my camera doesn't take the best
pics of fireworks. You'll have to take my word
that they were awesome.)
I'm thinking this could turn into a yearly
tradition to celebrate B's birthday.

Brandon at six

*Loves all things that involve Star Wars, Legos,
Bionicle, or Transformers

*Asks for dessert about 5 times a day

*Loves to ride his bike and scooter

*Likes to watch movies and play Playstation

*Loves to be in front of a crowd. This is most
evident when he is asked to give a talk in primary.

*Doesn't care about matching clothes or
having combed hair

*Is great with babies and is hoping he'll
have a new baby brother soon. I've tried to
warn him that if we have another baby, it could
be a boy OR girl, he is adamant that he ONLY
wants a boy.

*Loves to read. Especially if the books are
about any of the topics listed in the first
bullet point.

*Wakes up EARLY--usually between 6:15 and
6:45 every morning. This morning he slept
until 7:35 and was very proud of himself for
"sleeping in."

*Can be over-confident at times.
(Some might even call him a know-it-all.)

*Can do math in his head better than me.
(Not that that's saying much.)

*Is scared of thunderstorms and we've
had a few LOUD ones lately.

*Remembers almost everything we
teach him about the gospel.

*Is very LOUD.

*Has a lot of charisma, energy,
and spunk and is the funnest
little boy to have in our family.