Bird Dog Workout

Riggs is now 10 months old and weighs well over 100 pounds.  This year will be his first year for hunting.  Hopefully he'll lose some of the usual "puppy play" and get working when the time comes! 

We have a nice walking trail that starts just south of our house.  It has a new well-maintained gravel path, a grassy knoll that overlooks the water on the point (a glorious view!), and a lot of gorgeous trees along the way.  This weekend, we took Riggs to the hilltop where there is a flat plateau with ground cover and had a good workout.

Riggs was so excited.  Once he calmed down a bit and didn't jump the gun for the retrieve, he did a really good job.   We're hoping he'll be one heckuva great bird dog!  Continuous workouts will be key.  :-)

Summer Shots

Back in July, we had some professional photos taken of the family near the lake.  Here's a few of the shots taken at the state park (across the lake from our home) and from one of the dock areas at sunset.  Ramsey was getting tired, so it was challenging to get pictures with all of us smiling at the same time (and where he wasn't distracted by the surroundings)!

Connor is 12 and Ramsey is 6 months here.  I'm not telling Eric's or my age.  :-)

Mom was with us that evening, so we made sure to get some nice shots with her too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Time Meeting Great Grandma Rose and Grandpa Mike

Over the Labor Day weekend, we enjoyed the company of Great Grandma Rose and Grandpa Mike.  It had been some time since we'd seen them and Ramsey hadn't met them until Saturday. 
He greeted them with big smiles and was so observant during the day, checking out everything they did.

He's wrapped up here in a Notre Dame blanket, a gift from Grandpa Mike.   Go Irish! 
He received some other awesome gifts as well (a collectible GTO and collector coins), to be treasured in the years ahead.

He sure liked Great Grandma's necklace.

Rose commented a number of times, "I can't believe it... he never cries!"

And.... I guess, he really doesn't!  (Except in the middle of the night!)

 

 

Cruisin' Right Along

Ramsey, the little tot, is growing so quickly and his motor skills are advancing significantly.  He's rolling, scooting, and now crawling all over the place.  He likes to stand up in his playpen and crib, plus get up on two feet with the help of his new learn-to-walk toy or the furniture. 
As usual, while grabbing anything in his path to look, touch, and taste it, he's babbling and chattering constantly, laughing his little butt off. 
Here's a new trick that we've learned of in the last few weeks... he can do the splits.... width-wise.  Eesh!

He LOVES to sweetly snuggle up and take naps in our arms and on our laps.  And, quite the contrary, he also adores climbing all over us rather raucously like a little mountaineer, grabbing every facial feature we have along the way.... then laughing, of course.

Even though he's a snuggle bug, he's also very independent, spending lots of time playing by himself with his new toys (his favorites are ones that have music and flashing lights).  It's fun to watch him and listen to his funny little sounds and gibberish.

Since he liked some of the park toys that rocked, today we pulled out the police motorcycle that was first Connor's (a gift from Nana and Bumpa), then Bridger's... now Ramsey's.   He laughed as he rocked back and forth, taking time to jump intermittently.

His new toys from Grandpa Orin and Judi prove to be quite a riot for Ramsey also.  They make lots of different noises (songs and interactive learning games) and have sooo many activities.  Eric compares his actions to that of a deejay, controlling numerous things at once, enamored by his accomplishments.

And, as per usual, he must taste everything too!

Mmm... plastic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Legomania!

One of Connor's favorite "inside" things to do is put together Legos and Mega Bloks.   To date, he's assembled an airplane and Star Wars sets, but recently he finished his Call of Duty military sets that Nana and Bumpa gave him for his birthday. 

Throughout this last building venture, he was very diligent, meticulously organizing the pieces by size and shape, for a more focused and smooth assembly.

He started putting together the Humvee and military shelter.  Good thing for the instruction booklets (there are so many pieces!).

Being an avid Lego-lover also, I got down on the floor with Connor and dug in a bit as well.  I put together the little army guys and their machine guns, ensuring that they had the proper color-coordinated outfits and matching weapons, ammo, and accessories.  Ha!  Those little dudes were so tiny, my fingers still hurt!

Mission 1 (Humvee and Firebase): Complete.

A few days later...

Mission 2 Completed:  "Dome Battleground" (complete with drone!)

My mission: To build an 18" x 24" x 3" box, spray it Desert Camo or black, add some sand to it, to create a [hopefully] realistic desert scene.  Connor wants to place his Call of Duty sets in the sandbox, then on top of his tall dresser for a cool display.

 

All Lego/Mega Blok missions completed (in the last year or two):

Connor's coveted special Star Wars sets:

(All of these have a myriad of moving parts.  They took DAYS to patiently put together!)

Millennium Falcon:

Jedi Shuttle:

Sith Fury-Class Interceptor:

Red Airplane (the first set of higher-difficulty Legos that Connor completed):

The original idea was to hang all of the Star Wars fighters and shuttle, plus the airplane from the ceiling, but pieces kept falling off and they wouldn't stay together.  So much for that idea!

What will his next missions be?  Hmm....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Time at the Fair

First time at the fair for RAMSEY.  Lord knows I've been to a myriad of fairs in my life, growing up showing cattle across the U.S.  Connor and Eric have had their "fair share" of the festivities in the past as well. 

The weather that day was a SCORCHER.  Even though the thermometer read in the low 80's, the humidity was such that it felt like 100!   Needless to say, it was a shorter trip than we had originally anticipated! 

We started out by checking out the petting zoo. 

It was so hot, we were feeling sorry for the poor llamas and horses that had so much hair.

The loud sounds of turkeys and chickens turned our attention to the poultry.

A large grey female turkey squawked and squawked for unknown reasons.  :-) 

A rooster's lurid crow scared the dickens out of Ramsey.

After that startle, we moved to the dairy and goat barn.

(City Slickers!!!!)

 

We then trekked to the midway to eat naughty fair food (Connor and Eric had their first bites of deep fried Oreos, Connor had his first funnel cake - that he remembers!).   Roasting from the heat, we decided to skip rides and anything else, and head home to enjoy some air-conditioning!

 

Next year, it's our goal to try to plan better and attempt to go on a cooler day as to enjoy the Ferris Wheel, merry-go-round and such!