Kasen is 3!!

On Tuesday the 21st we went to Tracy for late Father's Day and early Kasen's Birthday celebration. We had a very enjoyable time. Kasen loved opening presents of Cars shirts, books and stickers, as well as a Super Why game. He was very excited about the whole thing!

They bought him an ice cream cake and he was very proud of it. Before it was cake time he had to take us all to the freezer to see "his cake."

On Saturday, his real birthday, Terry had to be gone most of the day to take some tests for a possible state job so we celebrated on Friday like that was his Birthday. It started with breakfast in bed that he thought was so cool!

He spent the morning playing with cars on the floor and enjoying balloons. After that we went to see Cars 2 in Oroville on opening day. It was very cute and we all enjoyed it.

Then we went to the Hunters for a hot dog roast and presents, cake and swimming. I made some matching pillowcases for the boys.

He wanted a cars cake and I knew that we had a lot of the cars but of course we couldn't find Lightening McQueen anywhere but it was still pretty cute. He was so fun to watch blowing out candles.

The next morning, even before he was dressed or diaper changed or shoes on, he was outside playing with his new T-ball set. I think it's a good way for him to get some agression out. Just look at how serious his face is :)

Father's Day!

Saturday when we got home from the Reunion, Trevor and Terry tricked dad into giving them his truck and trailer to go get a "mean goat" but when they came back, he found out that it was really 2 miniature ponies for him for Father's day. These are something he's wanted for a very long time. he wants to make a cart for them to pull his grandkids in a parade. This is his first view of the momma.

On the left his her colt born in October of last year.

Dad was of course, instantly in LOVE!

Sunday all the kids gathered round to give Terry his Presents. He doesn't like Breakfast in Bed so he no longer gets that service provided to him.

The Percy Jackson Series

A new stickless kite! we are very happy that we have a Daddy that loves us so much!! We went to Tracy on Tuesday to see Papa Jim since he was in his isolation time on Father's day.

Reunion

Over Father's Day weekend we had the Hunter Family reunion as always. It was is Redding and it was GREAT! The weather was very cooperative and the company was awesome! We spent the nights at Meredith and Bill's house in tents and Spent the day at Whisky Town Lake. The minute we got the paddle boat off the car, Max (3) and Kasen (almost 3) thought they were going to take it out themselves.

There were floating logs all over the place and much to Grandpa's dismay, the kids all loved laying on them and pushing them around. Tayla was using hers as a noodle.

Uncle Trevor was the king of the squirt guns. If you had one in your hand, he was after you, if he was on a boat, it was hiding at his side just in case you came by. No one really seemed to mind to much since it was hot and they were all able to get him back. Tyden thought he was extra sly and was constantly shooting him.

These are all of the floatation devices and boats that we had and they were all in constant use by everyone. It was really fun!

Young and old took their turns and were always trying to get another.

No one could resist the feel of the nice cool water. it was very cold, but very clear too. We had a whole beach and picnic area to ourselves so that was really nice.

To keep out of the evening heat, we went to the church for a spagetti dinner and a talent show. These are the Rodgerson girls with ours they are Reece (5), Ellie (7), Cypress (9), Hunter (9), then Tayla (7).

Louisa and Claudia showing off their reunion T-shirts designed by Alex.

A Turtle!

For our first summer mutual activity we went to the Chinese Temple in Oroville on a tour and I took our family. It was very interesting and in great shape. Everyone should go check it out. There was this fun bamboo for taking pictures in. They had fish in a pond outside and were not happy because there were turtles eating the fish. They wanted the turtles out so Terry took it upon himself to catch them so the trip quickly turned into a Turtle rescue.

Everyone thought they were so cool and wanted to take them home. They were very happy to oblige so one of my Laurels took one and we ended up with the other one.

No one was happier than Tayla! Who knew she loved turtles!

However, when we got him home we put him in a cooler with water and bricks to climb on to get out of the water and some lettuce and watermellon rines. It wasn't good enough for him and he kept trying to climb out of it and ended up on his back and couldn't turn over. After the 10th time of flipping him over we let him out on the grass and he did everything in his power to get out of our yard. He was trying to dig under the fences and everything. Finally we decided that he just wasn't going to make it at our house.

So we took him out to Grey Lodge and let him go. Tayla cried all the way there and begged and pleaded to keep him. No matter what we said she wasn't consoled.

As she put him down and he ran for the water and took off swimming, she was ok with it, but still not happy and convinced that we needed to go to the pet store and get her a new one. Lucky for me, I think she's forgotten about it now and we're off the hook.

Every year they have a little track meet in Gridley. There are no practices ahead of time and no other meets, but just the one. You say what you want to do and show up and do it. We decided to take the girls to the track a few times before hand to at least give them a little practice. They both did very well. This is Cypress receiving the baton in the 4x100 relay in which her team got 1st out of 4 teams all the same age.

This is her winning team, they are also the winning team from last year!

Here is Tayla finishing strong in the 4x100 relay in her age group where she also got 1st out of 4 teams.

This was her winning team!

They both got other ribbons and medals for the 200 yard dash, 100 yard dash, 50 yard dash, and the softball throw. It was very fun. Tyden can't wait until he gets to be a part of it too! Of course, Kasen can outrun them all, but I think he'll be more of a distance runner. :)

Memorial Day Weekend

We wanted to go camping to Little Grass Valley and since you can't have a reservation there, we went up Thursday night to get a spot. Unfortunately, there was so much snow there Still that they weren't even open so we had to find somewhere else to go that was close. We found a campground called Strawberry and it was pretty nice. This is the fun river that was running through about 50 yards from our camp site.

The kids loved exploring a new place but it was still pretty cold and rained and snow on the ground in some places.

We borrowed Terry's parents RV for the trip just because we did think it would be a little cold for a tent. It was very nice to have it, we could get used to camping that way, not that we mind sleeping in a tent, it's just so nice not to have to set up your beds or anything when you get there.

Cypress had a track meet at school on Friday so she didn't come with us. it was a good thing though, since she received 3 first place ribbons and one 3rd place. We are very proud of her! She was sad she missed out on the real camping though.

We all enjoy a good campfire! We roasted hot dogs and marshmellows.

We decided that Kasen could do a commercial for smores. It was very enjoyable to watch him eat it.

We all took our bikes and throughly enjoyed riding them. It was a hard first half all up hill but of course that means it was a very fast, no peddaling all downhill second half. Kasen couldn't quite make it up on his own so he got to ride with dad. He was really mad at first but got over that really quick when he saw how much fun it was.

Tayla and Tyden were addicted, then did it 10 times as often as Terry and I.

The next morning it rained all morning so we decided not to stay there. It was too far and too cold to have more people join us so after looking for a different place all the way home, we ended up at a camp ground in Live Oak and it was great. It was cheep, not busy, green, had a river for fishing - not for swimming but it was too cold to swim anyway. The Hunters joined us and we had a great next 2 days. Here's Grandma and Kasen enjoying a little horse shoes.

Terry was in his glory because he caught a beautiful striper, a good sized one too as you can see. They cleaned in a fried it up and ate it for dinner!

There wasn't quite the hill to coast down there but the kids still enjoyed riding their bikes all over the place. We could barely get them off to eat!

Terry and Cypress had some good bonding time fishing. The other kids are all too impatient.

Eventually it started raining there too and we had to cover the fire with our awning and huddle. It was okay for a while but we all went home sooner than we'd planned. We wouldn't hesitate to go there again though!

Rain or shine, you have to have an exploration walk with Grandpa. Tyden and Tayla went too, they just ran back ahead of everyone else.