Ramsey's First Day of Preschool - Fall 2017

Ramsey started his first day of preschool on Thursday.  He was so happy to be there!

I had taken him with me to meet his new teacher, Miss Brooke, and the aids on Tuesday, so he would be familiar with them.

He won't have any of the same kids in his class.  And, as it turns out, the class will be all boys, with only one girl!  I guess we know who Ramsey's girlfriend will be (other than Miss Brooke, who is already his girlfriend, he says).

Connor started his Sophomore year on Tuesday.  He was at his Mom's, so we don't have pics.

Visiting Daddy

Back to school... wow.  It's almost unimaginable!    Ramsey and I scurried to town today to meet Ramsey's new preschool teacher and teacher's aids.   School starts THIS THURSDAY for him.  (Connor's first day was Tuesday, the 22nd!)

We met Miss Brooke, Tammy, and Angie, and discussed "school stuff".   Then, since we were in town, we stopped in to see Daddy at the police station!

He tried on Daddy's heavy Kevlar bullet-proof vest.

And, he got to check out the police cars again. 

Since it was summertime, there were motorcycles in the garage too!  Ramsey wanted to get on and ride one so bad!

We'd better give that one another year or so.  :-)

Happy Fair-Goers

Sunday was our day to venture out to the county fair.   We were lucky to have such beautiful fair weather; lower 70's, a slight breeze, and party cloudy (a much better outlook than what we'd had the years prior - high 90's and sunny! ugh).

We started out nice and easy, visiting the sheep, hog, and goat barn.   Ramsey got to pet a gilt for the first time.  He also got to pet the goats (his favorite).

 And sheep.

 And bunnies.  There were 4-Hers exhibiting their rabbits in a "dress-up" competition.  There were some cute costumes for the little buggers!

We thought we'd see if Ramsey would ride the ponies this year (last year he wanted nothing to do with them!).  He absolutely wanted to ride them!  Yay!  A new first for Ramsey!  (It seems that since his baby years, his "firsts" have become quite few and far between.)

 Around and around they went, Ramsey smiling like a Cheshire cat for much of the ride!

Another first for Ramsey: midway rides!  Eric and I contemplated whether we thought Ramsey would sit nice and not try to climb out in the middle of the action.  We bought some tickets and took a gamble (and said a little prayer!)

First ride: the fancy convertible cars, complete with buzzer horns! 

 He was looking pretty serious starting out.  He kept looking back to get the view from behind.  He liked this little girl in the back seat.  :-)

It was really fun to watch and get his reactions.  He was so cute!

We were amazed at how fast those cars were blazing by.

Then, off to ride the purple dinosaurs (er, dragons?)!

 He had a little buddy in the back that was chattering with him the whole time.  He was happy to have made another new friend!

Then, on to the 4-wheelers.  Notice how he's bopping his head to the music.  Priceless!

I showed him how to use the buzzer horns this time, so he was busy pushing on it constantly.

Then, we were back to the cars again!

After the insane amount of stimulation from the carnival rides, we decided to tone it down and head into the Expo building to quickly browse exhibits (like the Republican headquarters booth!).  :-)

And, of course we had to visit the Game Fish & Parks' ginormous fish tank, filled with bass, sucker fish, carp, walleye, perch, bluegill, and even a painted turtle!

Once we finished here, we mosied on back to the car, visiting other little sideshow attractions and such.

Until next time, county fair.  Ramsey can't wait to go again!

An Evening of Firecamping

It was gorgeous on Sunday evening; beautiful clouds in the sky, no wind, and in the high 60s.  It was perfect for "firecamping" (Ramsey's nomenclature for campfires).

Connor went down to the lake shore to find Ramsey a frog.  He came back with a nice little leopard frog.

 Ramsey was thrilled.  He touched it (nicely) and he and Connor played with it in the water.   Connor had placed a log in the pool.   At one point, Ramsey started sniffing around and then exclaimed, "Hey, he smells like chicken!"

 While Ramsey and Daddy  played "light sabers" with sticks, Connor and Riggs broke down the branches to burn.  They had fallen down from one of the last storms.   Riggs actually did a good job, helping Connor.  He ripped up the branches into smaller pieces that would fit into the fire!

 Some took longer than others.  :-)

Connor loves to play hide & seek with Riggs, so the boys kept the poor pup busy (and out-of-breath!) for a long time.  
Connor would throw a tennis ball into the lake and, while Riggs retrieved it, the boys had time to run and hide, without being seen.   They hid behind sheds, in the trees, by the play set, and here they are behind a chair.

Eric finally had to call the game quits before the dog keeled over! 

It was such a fun night!    The summertime just isn't long enough.

Another Summer Day at Storybookland

Panic.... the summer is almost over!  We've been so busy, but there have still been a number of things we haven't done yet!

Since we hadn't been to Storybookland yet this year, Sunday was the day.  It had stopped raining (Lord knows we needed the rain desperately!) and the temp was going to be around 70.  What a truly perfectly day to go.   There was one downfall, however; Connor had to WORK, so he couldn't go with us for the afternoon outing.  Grr.

There's always so much to see there and it's not possible to see everything if you actually want to stop and enjoy some of the play areas, rides, and exhibits.

We visited the castle first, climbing the stairs all the way to the top, looking out for "bad guys" that we could attack with our bows and arrows!

Down below, in the castle, was the stage (no plays today!) and Ramsey was enamored with the background.  "Look at all those colors!", he'd say.

Captain Hook's pirate ship was just outside (with a fancy slide too, so Ramsey was extra excited).

With so much to look at and see, it seems like Ramsey's favorite phrase that day was "Hey, I want to go THERE!".

Every other place we went had a slide.  Momma did a lot of sliding that day with Doodlebug (only the "big slides").

Daddy attempted to do this one, but the height of this was a little too much!  :-)  

 We were both quite hesitant for Ramsey to even go on this slide, but he's stubborn and there was no telling him "No!".      This may have been his favorite big slide of the day; we went up and down it about 8 times before I'd had enough!!  (I guess I'm getting wimpy and queasy in my old age.)

Luckily, Old McDonald's barns were close (as to offer a distraction!), so we were off to see the critters.   There were baby calves (a beef calf and a buffalo), chickens, miniature ponies, pigs, and goats.  The goats usually seem to be the place we spend the most time!

Eric gave Ramsey some corn and helped him feed them.

They were such friendly little guys, so Ramsey got to pet them too.

And of course, he had to ride the little horse!

Next big stop: the carousel!

 The Wizard's Balloon Ride was not too far from this and, once Ramsey spotted it, he was bound and determined that he was going on it.   Eric and I were perplexed and a bit confounded.  This thing goes up in the air 40' and the balloon cars spin.   We thought it might be a recipe for disaster.

 Reluctantly, I entered the ride with him, strapped us both in, and up up UP we went!  In my head, I was contemplating an uh... "escape" plan in case he freaked out.

That wasn't necessary though; Ramsey LOVED...IT!   We were shocked.  He wanted to go again, but Momma's stomach was getting queasy (again, the "age thing" - bleh) and that was enough spinning for a day.

Now, if only the roller coaster would have been going that day...!

To burn off what Ramsey had left for energy (Eric and I had depleted supplies by this time), we went to one of the playgrounds for littler kids.   

Ramsey did a lot of swinging,

digging,

and more slides.  This ice cream cone slide was his favorite "little slide", no doubt because it was A) ice cream and B) had an Oreo on the side.

Then, in the middle of his running through the sand from one thing to another, he spotted a little boy who was about his age.  His was hiding underneath the elephant slide.  So, he decided to join him.

 And, just like that, they became instant buddies!  His name was Corbin.  They played hide & seek, chase, went down the slides together, rode the dinosaur, etc.  While they were running wildly, we heard Ramsey exclaim, "We are boys!!!".     Later, when they had calmed down a bit, I heard Corbin ask Ramsey, "so, what do you want to do when you grow up?"    Such diverse conversations and notations with these little ones!

 Corbin had a little baby brother named Ashton.   Ramsey helped himself to the shared swing here with Corbin and little bro.  He's definitely not shy!  :-)

 The boys had to say goodbye and parted ways.   On our way back to the truck, we stopped and took a few more pictures, then called it a day.

Connor was just getting off of work, so we'd all be getting home at about the same time.  Ramsey was all ramped up to go "firecamping" again.