Thanksgiving

I had a small breakfast this morning, saving my appetite for dinner at the Mansion. This is the first time Debbie and Josh had came and it was lots of fun having them there. Beside them there was Bev, Mik, Michelle, James, Mik's mother Margret, Mik's brother Jim and his family, Kim, Rome, Gage and Elle. The food was good and lots of it. The only problem was James beat me to the last piece of Pecan pie. As we were leaving I saw they had put more out and considered going back for a piece. One of these times Debbie is going to smile normally for me if I'm lucky.

James came home with me and we hung out at the Robinson's for a while, Diannne wasn't feeling well and we hope she gets over it quickly. When we left there James wanted to take a 4-wheeler ride to the pipeline and creek.

When we got back James wanted to try the Snow Board Dianne had gotten him last year for Christmas. We looked around for a hill with snow and finally settled on the field down at Eddie's.

James would ride down the hill and I would haul him back up with the 4 wheeler. It finally got kind of dark so we headed home. We made a run to BK only to discover it was closed along with just about everything else, we went back home and had Chicken Pot Pies. Michelle came up to pick up James and we had a nice visit. Vera is fighting a sore throat so she stayed home today, everyone missed her!

It was nice being with family today, I hope you got to be with yours.

More Creek

James doing a little multitasking this morning. He got a pretty good nights sleep after watching the movie at the Dolan's until midnight. I went out to do a little work on the oak chairs we are refinishing. It wasn't long until the kids wanted to go to the creek again.

This time it was Auna, Parker, James and I. First they rode some of the trails and then wanted to go to a different part of the creek than normal. I took them over to a new trail that ends above the creek about 50 feet and we had to walk down an elk trail. They decided to build a little dam today. James has just thrown a log into the water and got Parker wet. Just as they were finishing the dam, Auna spotted a Grouse in the bushes, that kept them busy trying to get a picture of it. By the time we left, they had seen 4 of them.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, James spotted an elk antler on the ground. That ended up going home with him.

James discovered he could pop wheelies with the little 4 wheeler today. He had a great time with that. After a late lunch and a little R&R we ran him home. I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the trails and mowing them. It was a fun two days with James.

Boys trip to the creek

Looking down from where we parked the 4 wheeler at the end of the new trail. You can see the trees that beaver have fallen in the lower part of the picture.

Two stumps the beavers have done, One fairly fresh and one that looks like last years.

Lots they can plink at down there with the BB gun.

Parker did not have boots, so James gave him a piggyback ride each time they crossed the creek.

The worst part was the final climb back up to the 4 wheeler. James drove back, so we made a lot better time than my driving on the way down.

Playing with Ice

I picked up James like normal on Fridays. We had made arrangements for him to stay the night. So we went and picked up his clothes and Xbox. When we got home he went right over to check the pond ice I had been telling him about. It did not take long and he was out on it.

After we ate and James played on the pond some more, he wanted to go see if there was ice on the creek. There was, but not as much as the pond.

With in a minute James was flat on his back, the ice was really slippery! Then he got a rock and worked on breaking some off. He sent most of the piece he fell on floating down the creek.

He busted off this piece from the one behind him by jumping on it. Then he ventured further upstream and tried to break off another shelf of ice. It broke when he jumped on it, but he slipped and went in about knee deep. I told him it was time to head back before the cold set in. As he was climbing up one glove froze to the bridge rail. He thought that was neat so he stuck the other one on there also. I swapped gloves with him so he could drive the 4 wheeler and we headed back. It was a big adventure and we had a good time.

Short video here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfmRhk5DwN4

Sounds like tomorrow may be nasty, be careful out there.