Rycie silliness

Two weeks ago we cut Rycie's hair short. I just woke up one day and decided he needed a change and was able to convince Kelly to let me get it cut pretty short. I love it and I think he's cooler now, which is important because it's been over 100 degrees here every day for weeks.

When we were in Iowa, we went to a splash park and Rycie didn't like the water. No surprise there. So he headed over to the little playground that was right next to it and Kelly went with him. He crawled into a little tunnel, lay down, stuck his hand out a little window, and said "paci me Daddy."

Even though he had been potty trained for a few months before we left for vacation, we decided to wean him off the potty seat while we were there. This involved the use of Skittles every time he went potty on the big potty without the insert. One day he was sitting next to me and randomly said "Skittle me Mommy."

One morning last week, Bryce saw a Cherokee airplane take off from a small strip by our house. He got excited, pointed to it, and said, "fly with Daddy, right seat!"

Last Sunday I went to his classroom at church to pick him up and he did not want to leave. So the girls in there were telling me how much they love him. They told me that the following conversation took place that morning.
Rycie (to a teenage girl): Hi.
Girl: Hi!
Rycie: I just said that!

Bryce never took toys to bed with him before, just his pacifiers and a few stuffed animals. But now all of the sudden, he wants to take everything in sight to bed with him. The last few nights he even slept with his baseball bat, among other things. The night I took this picture, he was sleeping with a soccer ball, F-16 jet, and a toy ice cream cone. I love this kid!

I forgot some pictures from vacation

The last Saturday we were in Iowa, we didn't really have any plans so we went out to Vinton to the dropzone where we met and used to skydive (and where Kelly used to work). We knew most of our friends wouldn't be there because Doc John and Mike Hoy were riding on Ragbrai and Briggs and Brother John were out in the fields leading detassling crews. But we wanted to see Jay and anyone else who might be there. We made the mistake of telling Cason that maybe he could sit in the airplane but they didn't shut down the Caravan the whole time we were there and we had to leave to get the kids lunch and get Bryce down for a nap. Cason was very disappointed that he didn't get to sit in the plane. But the boys did have fun spinning around on the creepers, doing a dirt dive.





Our consolation to Cason for not getting to sit in the Caravan was to let him look at this random plane in a nearby hangar.



That night, Alissa and Dave watched the boys for us so we could go to Holli and Brian's wedding reception. Dave took a couple cute pictures for us.



Rycie loves basketball and anytime he sees a hoop he yells "throw it in a hoop!"



Wresting I guess?

Cason's joke

Translation: Never invite a zero to a party. They're always late and add nothing to the conversation.

The rest of our trip

I'm terrible at taking pictures lately so this will have to sum up the rest of our trip. We stayed at Grandpa and Grandma Gehling's house the whole time we were in Iowa. They have horses behind their house that both boys were excited to see. Cason had been talking about how to feed horses carrots for months. It was so hot in Iowa that week that the horses weren't out grazing a whole lot. Just early in the morning and then after dinner. This is the first time we saw them out. Bryce was pretty scared of them but the next night we went out and fed them carrots and he was not really nervous anymore.





Grandma and Grandpa had several presents sitting out for Cason. Here he is opening the spaceship he wanted so badly.





Grandma and Grandpa also have a small ATV and we rode that around their yard/street one day. Cason didn't want to get on but when I finally got him to ride with me he said "I want to go fast!"



One afternoon we took the kids to a splash park. Bryce didn't want to get wet but Cason had a great time.



One afternoon we went to Tama to see the Rosenbergers. Cason and Bryce played awesome with their kids, Clayton (11), Clarissa (9), and Clayton (5). Another night we went to see Chris and Heather and had dinner with them. One morning we went to Iowa City to go shopping. Bryce insisted on getting a new Iowa football jersey, football, and hat at Scheels. Kelly and I visited CrossFit Cedar Rapids several times. We also escaped one night to see the last (and most awesome) Harry Potter movie. Another morning we met my mom, Dave, and Tate at Chuck E Cheese. All three boys had a blast playing games (Bryce is obsessed with the basketball shooting games and actually quite good at them) and then Maid Rite for lunch. Another morning we went to the Playstation and the boys had an awesome time running around the tunnels and slides on the three story playscape. Cason especially, he just disappeared and took off on his own. And the night before his birthday, we took Cason out to Happy Joe's pizza and then Dairy Queen for ice cream.

On the second weekend, we went to my cousin, Holli's, wedding reception on Saturday night. They had an awesome fajita bar and yummy cake. On Sunday we made the long drive up to Cresco for the Gehling family reunion. On Monday we started the trip back to Texas but we broke it up this time. We stayed just over halfway in Witchita. The boys both did great on the way home, I'm very glad we broke it up. We got such an early start on Tuesday (because the boys were up at 5:30 am) that we decided to stop in Oklahoma City and see the Oklahoma City National Memorial. We didn't realize that there is a museum there next to it. We didn't go in that but would like to so we might have to plan a trip up there someday. Overall, we had a good trip and were happy to see most of our family and a few friends but we don't plan on making that drive again for several more years!

Fishing

Kelly's brother, Mike, lives out in the country and has a bunch of acres. He has made some trails for their ATVs and two ponds that he stocked with fish. He invited us to come down one afternoon to fish and have dinner. We rode the ATVs out to one of the ponds and the boys got their first experience fishing. I think they were more interested in the ATVs but they had fun fishing too. It was crazy hot again that day so we didn't stay out longer than a half an hour or so.



Rycie (with Kelly's help) caught the first fish!



But then he refused to stand by it for a picture (he's very ornery these days) so Cason stood by Kelly for the picture.



Then Cason even held the fish and threw it back into the pond.



Luke



Then I was determined to catch a fish and I did, it was the first fish I have ever caught.



The boys sitting on one of the ATVs. Cole is fishing and Bryce is yelling at me not to take his picture.

West Liberty

On the first Sunday of our trip, my cousin, Darla, organized a get together for my mom's family. We went down there in the late morning and my aunt Donna Fae and Uncle Darrel had a BBQ and all kinds of yummy food. Donna Fae even got this awesome cake for Cason. I told her he likes spaceships and the colors blue, green, and orange and this is how it turned out. Cason loved it and both boys insisted on eating a piece with a spaceship on it.





Donna Fae also bought a kiddie pool and Grandma Brei brought some other little toys for the boys to play with and they both had a great time. After lunch we walked up the street for a parade. I think it was the longest small town parade ever! There were quite a few tractors and fire trucks from every town in a 20 mile radius (or so it seemed). The boys were pleasantly surprised to find out that parades = candy! They gathered a huge bag of candy but after the parade was over, forgot about it and never asked for a single piece. Notice how red Cason's face is, I think Iowa was hotter than Texas that weekend.



We had a great time seeing everyone, thanks so much for making us feel so welcome!

Alligator cake

On Saturday (day 2 of our trip), we headed over to Alissa and Dave's house after breakfast. The kids had a great time playing together all day and I borrowed their kitchen to make Cason's much anticipated alligator cake. He picked this out of my cupcake book back in January I think and has been excited about me making it ever since. It was really easy to make and Kelly helped me cut the little chocolate cookies that make the spines on his back and the marshmallow teeth. The eyes are made out of marshmallows and junior mints and the claws are banana runts. I was really happy with how it turned out (but most of the pictures aren't really in focus so I'm annoyed with the pictures).





For dinner we met my aunt Lou Ann at Zoey's Pizzeria. Then we headed back to Alissa and Dave's house to have cake and open presents. The boys were SO excited to eat the cupcakes. Here's Bryce showing us which one he wants.



Watching Dave light the candles. I love the look of concentration on Tate's face.



Cason also sang Happy Birthday to himself while the rest of us sang.



He always cups his hand around his mouth to blow on things and I have no clue where he got that.







Opening presents is so much fun. My dad sent some airplane and rocket ship DVDs for Lou Ann to give Cason since he couldn't be there himself.



Lou Ann and Denny gave Cason a cool boat with a million tiny accessory pieces that he loves to play with in the bathtub.



And Alissa and Dave gave Cason an awesome stomp rocket that was the highlight of the evening for young and old. Alissa bought a second one for Tate so they could both play together.










Attempting to get a cousins picture (Greyson was sleeping).





Good enough I suppose.













We had a great time hanging out with the McEowens. It was a lot of fun to watch the boys play so nicely together (so much better than last summer). And with pizza and cake, what's not to love?