Future French Horn Phenom?

We had somehow gotten on the topic of French horns.  So, I went downstairs and dug it out of storage.  Ramsey's eye lit up and he seemed excited with the notion of tooting this horn.

He was quite pleased with himself when he was able to get some sound out of the horn!  It isn't easy pushing sound through a French horn.  

We shall see if Ramsey follows Daddy and Connor's footsteps to play the very instrument Eric played all through junior high and high school. 

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day!

After our yearly 4th of July pics with the kids, the older kids took off on the paddle boat to go fish and hunt for turtles!

Ramsey had a super fun day, throwing snaps.

Much of the rest of the day he spent with his buddies next door, Greyson and Hadley.

 That evening, the kids got ready to catch parachutes.

Then, they did sparklers and lit off the smaller fireworks.

While we were on vacation, we set off our own fireworks ("big ones" on Wednesday night, smaller ones on Thursday), but also watched the awesome show across the lake on Thursday, caught another viewing of the neighbor's the next night, and heard a ton more throughout the weekend.

Fish from our Dock

This spring and summer have been quite fruitful when it comes to fishing from our dock.   The pics below are from our catch from the past few days.     When Eric was cleaning the fish, he had a nice captive audience.  :-)

 Not pictured: a very large white bass that Connor had caught. 

While Eric and I were fishing the other evening, he said to me, "this is partially why I'm not in a hurry to get the boat in the lake!"    Touche.  :-)

Class "A's"

It is very rare that Eric wears his "dress blues" (Class A's).   Typically, it's for a new photo for the police department.   In this case, he wore them to a funeral for one of their former colleagues (an older retired gentleman that Eric worked with in his early years on the force).

 Pictured above are the chief, detective sergeant, and the two captains who all worked with the gentleman who passed.   Below is the same motley crew, plus the Chief Deputy at the Sheriff's Dept.

Summer "Boy Time"

Lots of friends and lots of fun here at the lake this summer...     Bridger came to chill with Ramsey for the day (and stayed over night and all the next day) and Connor had buddies out for the afternoon and evening.

 The big boys fished the entire day (with one break to get some grub).   Connor had five different friends out.

 While they fished, the littler guys battled in the yard with their "swords" and used their imaginations, playing "Minecraft", mining for things and fighting Ender Dragons and creepers.

Connor, Jared, and Jason netted a painted turtle and brought it to shore for Ramsey and Bridger.

 Mr. Kitty couldn't resist checking out the turtle too.  Sidenote: Mr. Kitty is getting spoiled by the boys.  They throw him bullheads to snarf.

Our Little Pike

 LONG OVERDUE:  Swimming lessons for Ramsey.   (It's been a little while since we've had a "first" for Ramsey. )
It seems I just couldn't ever find a lesson schedule that didn't have preschool kids coming in on a Tuesday morning at 10:30 or something odd like that (HELLO, some people don't have summers off!!).   I finally did find lessons at the YMCA that fell on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:30 (half hour each class).  Bingo!      Starting level:  "Pike"!

Ramsey said he was a little nervous at first, but he was very excited.   His teacher, Ashley, is wonderful!  She's obviously a pro and handles the kids very well.

 Ramsey's #1 rule for lessons: "LISTEN".   Also, "don't act like a squirrel; behave yourself!"  So far, so good.

 Although, he made friends with another little fella (Asher).  They got pretty excited at one time and got a 1-minute time out.  After that, they were great!

 Lessons will continue for about a month.  After that, I will try to find additional lessons for the remainder of the summer.  (Wish me luck!)

 During these early sessions, they're pretty much just playing around; [holding onto the edge while] kicking, splashing, blowing bubbles, and using "big arms" (mimicking swim motions).   Although, at Session #2, they did bob their heads under water, mini-dived for rings (grabbed them while they were sinking), and were using floaties to swim on their backs and tummies.

He's catching on quickly, so he'll be swimming in no time!   Bonus #1: Ramsey and I have both made friends while at lessons.  Bonus #2: He saw about three of his classmates from preschool when he was there (albeit all in different classes).

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to a wonderful Daddy and hubby!  We love you so much!!!

We had an awesome day... the weather was beautiful and we were all in one place; home - together! 

 Most of the day was hanging out, doing some fishing and tinkering and playing in the yard.   That evening, Connor and Eric went fishing off the dock.   They caught some nice walleye, a perch, a few bluegill, a huge catfish (about 27" long), and two huge carp.    Because Eric had purchased a smoker (and smoked up some delicioso jerky the day before), I joked that we needed to keep a few carp to try (as gross as it sounds, I've heard it's quite good!). 

 Needless to say, it looked like a crime scene in the kitchen during the cleaning process.   The electric fillet knife and the regular filet knives would barely penetrate the steel-like scales and ridiculously tough rib bones.

It was quite humorous for sure (unless you were the fish cleaner) but it wasn't very fruitful.  We won't be having smoked carp anytime soon.    We WILL, however, be having a nice catfish and walleye fish fry.   😉