Chuck Wagon Races 2013, or, Jones' Own Personal Heaven

So, Jones is our little cowboy.  Nothing makes him happier than a visit to the country, and when we're not there, nothing makes him happier than going driving around and pointing out all of the cows, horses, barns, tractors, and mowers we can find.  So it should come as no surprise to you that the Chuckwagon Races - which I believe is the biggest gathering of its kind in the United States - just about rendered our little cowboy speechless when we drove up two weeks ago to check on Grammy and Papa and take a gander at the campground.  Papa is a kind of "trail boss" up there - he leads the trail rides and is just a general ... well ... trail boss. 

Jones had been asking all week to see Papa and Grammy and Rambler and Jangles (that's Bojangles, but Jones insists on calling him Jangles, not Bo or Bojangles:  Jangles).  So Friday afternoon we drove up to visit.  First things first, we had to help Papa feed the horses (we brought them each an apple, which they crunched up fast, and then we spent a large amount of time walking back and forth between the horses' feeding buckets and putting hay in it). 

 

  

We checked out camp - they have the best spot, on top of the hill, in the shade!

 

We surveyed the view of the campground:

 

We took a drive around and saw thousands of people and horses, and took a look at the race track:

 

 

And we stood in awe of everything that the Chuck Wagon Races entail:

 

 

 

What the Ward Family Did in August, or, Sweet Summertime

August was a busy month for the Ward family.  What have we been up to, you might ask?  Well, I'm glad you asked, let me fill you in!

We have been:

Swimming at the RCC every chance we get:

These are two of my favorite pictures - his face is so sweet in them, and
he was so excited to be going swimming this particular day!

He's really good at swimming, given that he's never had a lesson.  He kicks and moves his arms.  He's so independent, he wants to swim by himself most of the time, without your helping him.

Kick, kick, kick!

So, here's the story with this frog:  I was unfurling the umbrella on this patio table, and this frog FELL DOWN OUT OF THE UMBRELLA and hit me on the shoulder.  I screamed like a girl, no kidding, no apologies - I have this thing about frogs, they freak me out, I really can't explain it.  Jones and Reynolds thought it was HILARIOUS. 
Now every time we go to the pool, Jones asks if we're going to see the froggie.

He thought it was hilarious that the frog fell on me, but he wasn't all that sure about it either.

He's telling me to get the frog so he can look at it.  As if.

 Swimming in Broken Arrow!

One of my favorite pictures of these two!

So, I think this is funny:  we were "throwing" Jones between the three of us, and my Dad and I throw him pretty high, and it makes my Mom nervous.  So when we throw him to her, he almost always kind of goes under a little bit, because she's so intimidated by catching him - to be fair, it is like catching a missile.  She said to him, "Jones, don't worry:  Nana closes her eyes too when we play this game!" Ha!

Looking extra cute at church, thanks to Jones!

 

 

Practicing our baseball skills!



 

Our little leftie - he lines up leftie every time, and when he hits golf balls, he does the same.

He says, "Swing!" while he's actually completing his follow through.

Having fun with sweet friends!

I think this is a sweet picture - like they're telling eachother secrets :o)




Visiting more sweet friends!  We got to spend some time with my bestie, Jessica, and her husband and little boy Jackson - Jones' future bestie and roomie at the U of A.  Jessica is expecting her second little boy, Grady, in November - so excited for them, and so thankful we got to spend a little time together this summer!

 

 

 

Spending time with Bunky A and Aunt Steph and Baby E!

 

Jones did pretty well with Eliza.  He was perturbed at first by everyone paying attention to her, including Nana, who was at our house when the Glass family arrived.  He was NOT OKAY with Nana holding E, and it took him a bit to be okay with Mommy holding E, and even then, he wanted to be right beside me to make sure I didn't forget that he was there.

The most hilarious story of our weekend with the Glasses - I was sitting on the floor, holding Eliza in one arm and Jones in the other - they were sort of balanced on each leg.  Eliza spit up, the way babies do, and it was a pretty big job - alas, most of it went on me, but some of it got on Jones' leg, and he FREAKED OUT.  His face was classic:  all screwed up and like, "Aaaaaaah!  Aaaaaaaah!  It's on me!  It's on me!  Gross!  Gross!"  He was having a MELT DOWN wanting someone to clean him up, and Steph and I were laughing hysterically.  I would give a large sum of money for pics from that incident (in fact, Steph had jumped up to get a camera and take a pic since they were both being sweet, and as soon as she left the room, E had an eruption, and then we were too busy laughing and cleaning up to get an actual picture after that).

He got over it, though, and we had fun at the park:

She is too precious - she kept laughing all weekend and it was a kind of hiccup-y, gasp-y kind of laugh.  Precious.

Impromptu guitar lesson from Bunky A.  Jones kept looking down at his guitar like, "Why isn't mine doing that?" 
Or, maybe it was, "Why doesn't Bunky A know 'Paco Likes to Chew on Bones'?"

 

Stealing kisses from Molly Mac:

 

 

Showing off our impressive shape-sorting skills:



I knew that elephant shape-sorter toy was a good idea :o)



Putting together our favorite dinosaur puzzle:

 

 

Hanging out, just being a dude, watching the Golf Channel:

 

 

Enjoying ice cream:

 

 

And, believe it or not, that's not all, it just seems like enough to give you a general overview of what we've been up to lately:  having fun!