State Fair with Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma Barmes and the boys pet the rabbits as we take shelter from one of the many downpours we experienced at our day at the fair. Around lunch time a huge downpour came that lasted over an hour while we were stuck in the building with the rabbits, chicken, roosters and geese. I guess it could have been worse, we could have been stuck with the pigs!


Grandpa helps the boys get comfortable with the donkeys. Coop did ok, but Mackey refused to let go of grandpa's arm.
In between rain showers we ventured out for a few rides. Our bottoms got wet (yes, mine too) but the smiles were worth it.






Unbelievable, 4 sets of eyes all looking at the camera! Here is Cooper and Mackey with their grandparents on my side.


Coop marvels at the baby chicks





Mackey makes friends with a duck, or is it goose



Mac loved the carousel. What you don't see is mommy getting motion sick from riding with him.

Cooper's 5th Birthday

Hard to believe that my baby is 5 years old. We celebrated his birthday at Recreation Unlimited. This place is a kids heaven. They sell the big playsets so they have 13 gigantic playsets assembled inside for the kids to play on along with houses, basketball courts and Thomas the Train. Cooper picked "The Incredibles" as his theme.
These boys are as mischevious together as they look. Lukas and Gabe Bowron are Coop's favorite playmates.
This year he is into Transformers, Superman, the movie Cars, and anything that "goes".
Dan and I surprised him with "Optimus Prime", some crazy Transformer toy that you need an engineering degree to figure out. I think you can tell by the picture that he was excited about his present.
Once again, a picture went out of order. This is Coop at Texas Roadhouse having his birthday dinner and celebratory ride on the saddle. If you look closely you will see he is holding "Optimus Prime"
Playtime back at the party
This is the motley crew that we assembled for Coop's pary. I think we are missing 2 kids. I could not get 15 kids to look at me at the same time. This is the best picture I could get.
I had to include Mackey's first "dunk".
Fun on the tire swing with the Bowron boys.

How To Make A Child Happy!

The first thing you need is a giant load of dirt. The key here is to not worry about the mess (because it is at someone else's house). In this dirt, you must bury "treasure". McDonalds Happy Meal toys work extremely well!
You then take the children and tell them to dig, dump and generally spread the dirt around until their hearts are content.
Hole digging is a good bonding excercise for boys. Until it comes to whose hand touched the treasure first.
Speaking of hands, did I mention that shovels are optional??
Ride-on toys are also highly recommended in the whole fun time experience. Especially when they can be ridden down the mound of dirt!

How To Make A Child Happy! (Part 2)

The second component of a funfilled day is sidewalk paint. The boys learned quickly that painting the sidewalk is not near as fun as painting themselves. Here is Cooper as a blue power ranger.
The good thing about the sidewalk paint is that it is washable!!
Mackey had to make sure he got into the action.
When the boys were done painting themselves they decided to move onto some auto-body work.

How To Make A Child Happy! (Part 3)

You may be asking yourself, "what could be better than dirt and paint?". The answer is ---Tractors! Uncle Jim put out some of his prize machines for the boys. Above, Cooper and William are trying to locate the key on this almost antique wheelhorse.
I think Dan had more fun driving this than the boys had riding.
Grandpa got in the action by pulling the "kids"
This little red baby really had some get-up and go!
Mackey is relaxing as grandpa takes him for a ride. Notice he is using a rug for a blanket. Boy, don't they think of everything at this age.

How To Make A Child Happy (Part 4)

Before I caption these pictures, I need to vent for a moment. I'm not sure if it is Blogger that needs to work out some kinks or the user (me). Never-the-less, I have been attempting to finish these postings of the cousin reunion for about 3 weeks. The system was having trouble posting pictures so that is why I am so far behind. When I added this section, I could not get the pictures to go in the order I wanted them. The birthday party was to be first and the kids sleeping in the car on the way home last. Because, let's face it, it just makes more sense that way. I also discovered on this section how to finally do more than 5 pics per posting. So in the future I hope I can make use of that instead of the multiple positngs for the same event. Thank you for letting me rant and rave. On to the pics. Above is Cooper and cousin William with Uncle Jim. He and Aunt Diane graciously hosted the event. The kids all had a lot of fun with all the activities they had planned and the adults took to opportunity to visit and eat!
Mackey gave up in the car and took a nice long nap.
Here is Mackey partying down with his wonderful party supplies from his goody-bag.


Cooper Zonked!
These were the pictures that were supposed to start this session. The fourth way to make a child happy is to have a birthday party for every child. It doesn't matter if your birthday is August, February or March - put on the hat, grab some cake and have a present. The kids Had a GREAT time!
They even got to take turns blowing the candles out on the cake.
We all had a fabulous time. Thanks to Jim and Diane for getting us all together and hosting. See ya next year.