Randolph Retreat

We headed to Randolph the first weekend that Keith and Candice were here. We enjoyed the cool country air and had lots of fun.

Unbenounced to us, it was to be Rich High School homecoming weekend. We went to the parade and got to see it twice, once when it when up the road and again when it turned around and came back down the road. Remi happened to be dressed in Rebel Blue and in response their school colors, the kids on the floats threw him lots of candy.

Later in the day Jared arrived and we took a drive to Garden City/Bear Lake for some good burgers and raspberry shakes. A very clever rooster hangs around the outdoor tables and cleans up what ever hits the ground. How

Remington got some wiggles out at the Garden City town park and so did Jared. I bet he hasn't been on a swing for many, many years.

Jared brought the lawn game "ladder ball" up with him and we all really enjoyed playing it. Frank was particularly good at it. We recommend it to every one.

We discovered aother wonderful pass time... outdoor Guitar Hero. We were able to project it on the side of the garage and it was great fun. We lined up the lawn chairs and watched the game. It got plenty chilly and as the evening progressed more and more blankets found their way outside. We stayed outside until it was just too chilly. What a change for our Texas kids who seldom get to enjoy much time outdoors because of the hot and humid climate!

Keith, the "handyman", willingly helped up out with the back side of the house. He taught Frank and I how to install new windows and repaired some of the soffet and fascia.

Remington, the busy boy, was always on the move but sat still for a long, long time to play with sand, buckets and shovel. What a cutie!

We took an explorative drive up in the hills above Randolph. There we discovered a road called "Mine Street". Not surprisingly, the road lead us to signs like this one which says; "Danger. Open Mine. Stay Away. Bad air, unstable workings, verticla cliffs". We wisely chose not to take the side paths leading off the main road and up towards some old scaffoldings. The fun part of that exploration was to find that such things once existed. We always enjoy our new discoveries in and around Randolph.

All in all we had a great time, as always!

A Surprise for Keith

Due to kindness of a friend, we were able to orchestrate a great surprise for Keith. On our way to Randolph, I casually had him stop by my friends place. What he didn't know is that we had arranged to let him fish at my friend's private ponds. Katie arrived ahead of time with all the fishing gear. As we drove up the lane, Keith started to catch on and his excitement could hardly be contained. (Wish I had been able to take a picture of his reaction!)

Not only are the ponds amazing, but the setting and home are wonderful!

Remington made a friend with the resident kitty. Keith enjoyed a relaxing couple of hours fly fishing and Candice and I enjoyed watching him. It was pure joy to see him do what he so loves to do.

Even though no fish were successfully caught, they did bite and pulled until they broke two lines. As my friend says, at this time in the season, all the dumb fish have been caught and only the very smart and very big ones are left. Thank you, Skidmore's, for sharing your lovely place with us and helping to make it one of the best surprises ever!!!

Rem and Ty

Now that they have done some growing up, Ty and Remington are playmates. They shared some common interests, such as playing in the water feature. Neither one minded getting all wet!
They also enjoyed playing in Fred's kennel. In this picture, it is occupied by the dog, but if it had been vacant, both of them would have crawled in. It will be fun to watch them continue to grow up and play together.

Family Fun

Sorry that I have been slow to blog lately. That is due to a busy time with Keith's family in town for a couple weeks. Lots of pictures have been taken and many will be blogged....eventually. Thanks for your patience!!!

Fearful Fred Finds Fun at Bear Lake

I guess we are officially crazy people because we take pictures and create blog postings about a dog!! It gets worse ... we took a break from our working weekend at the Randolph house to take Fred, the dog, to Bear Lake. How nuts is that!!?? You can see that Fred did not take an immediate liking to the water.

He thought about it for a good long while.....

Then, he got a little bit brave and put two paws in the water..

Then 4 paws got wet...

Until finally he conquered his fear!!! The lake is only about a foot deep for quite a ways out and neither Frank nor I wanted to get wet enough to see if he would swim. Maybe we will try it the next time we get wacky and take the dog to beach!!

The Babies are Growing Up!

Our 2008 babies are getting sooo big! Remington (17 months) enjoyed an outing to the Houston Children's Museum. He is bringing his parents for a visit to Utah in a few weeks and we can't wait to see them!!!

Bridget is crawling and almost walking now that she is 10 1/2 months old. This silly smile shows off her two bottom teeth and she just sprouted the first top tooth.

Ty (14 months) spotted an empty box of which there are many at our house because of all the moving in and outs. He knew just what to do with it, climb in and go for an Ethan-propelled ride. These three little ones have brought so much joy to our family!!!

Funny, funny Fred

This pup keeps us entertained! He likes being outside but likes to watch us through the window. Here he is perched on a potted plant! I guess it offers him a better view!
He has quite the daily routine which goes something like this:
5:30 a.m. Wakes up in his kennel which is in our room and begins to make small wimpering sounds until we let him out and he jumps up on our bed to stretch and have is belly rubbed.
6:00 a.m .he goes out side to "do his duty", then eats breakfast and plays with us while we get ready for work.
7:30 a.m. goes for a walk (most days) then into his kennel while we are at work for the day.
4:00 p.m. he goes outside for "duty" and to play. He loves to chase the ball or a frisbee. Sometimes he gets so energetic that he just races around and around the yard in circles!
6 p.m. he eats dinner and hangs out with us all evening or spends time outside. He goes into his kennel when we go to bed and we start all over the next day.
We are so glad that we kennel trained him! He likes it and we love not worrying about what trouble he might get into while we are away. We put a kennel in the car when we travel and he is good as gold in it.
Thanks for the fun Fred!