Combine demo derby

We had the chance a couple of weeks  ago to go as a family to the combine demolition derby.  Yes, you heard it right, combines slamming into each other at all of 25 miles per hour.  The real highlight of the day was the truck races.  These trucks would race at full speed around the track and there were little to no rules for the race.  I love watching awesome events like this where safety rules are reasonable but not ridiculous or over the top.

Dirt would fly all over the fans when the trucks would go around the corner.  If this was anywhere else (like California) the fans would have been so far removed from the action because the rocks and dirt flying through the air would have been deemed unsafe.  This was not the case here.  Here, the fans had to stand up and shake all of the dirt off of them between races.  It was quite comical to watch.

I got a lot of videos of the combines and it was cool to see them run around without their rear axles but you will have to settle for this picture.

The weather was perfect for the fun out in the sun.  This is unless you are Sarah, and in that case it was too sunny and you needed to have 3000spf sunscreen on. I forgot to mention that Brenda's sister and her family came out as well so they were there to join in with the fun.

Here is James and his cousins snacking on a snow-cone.

Nothing like smoke in the air and hydraulic fluid spraying all over the place.

Brenda and James enjoying the show.  After the derby we continues on to Jim and Sandra's where we would spend the next day and then we were off to the coast.

We could not go there without a ride on the T.  James was all ready to go, and got to take a short ride.  In the afternoon I had a chance to take the car out for my first ride without Jim and Brenda came along.  She really had a blast and only screamed a little.

There are seven new kittens at grandma and grandpa's house  James had a good time holding the only kitten they could catch.

Here is Dan getting a ride in the T.

Then it was time to go inside of the shop and check out all the other T's in there.  The kids were acting quite crazy and I could only imagine what they were thinking.

 

I broke this vacation into two blog posts since I think I have about 34 pictures and don't think they are all going to fit into one post.  Next post will be the rest of the fun we had on the coast.

Neighbor Day

So another month goes by and the summer is really in full swing.  It has not officially started till I take a vacation and since I got that out of the way I am now ready to kick back and relax.  I thought I would write a little and bring the blog up to backdate.  I say backdate because the last pictures are new to the blog, but about 6 days old at the time of posting.  Here are the highlights.

 

Noel had a birthday party and had a bunch of people over.  James had a great time and loves to hang out with her.

A couple weeks ago we had an afternoon storm run through and when that happens in the spring you get a chance to see some rainbows.  This one was right behind the house and it made an awesome sunset in the east as well as the west.

The sunset looked so good I had to get up on the roof and check it out.  That was a great time to get James on the roof for the first time.  He liked being up there and had a blast.  I assured him it has lost its luster when you are cleaning gutters of fixing shingles....but he will learn that later.

We had a campfire the other night and cooked some smores.  This was a chance for me to take my camera out and see what it could do.  I really like the functions of this new camera and found that taking pictures of fire is almost as mesmerizing as starring at a fire.

It is so nice to get Matthew up in the morning or after a nap.  He is a  very happy boy that like to snuggle and laugh almost immediately upon waking up.

This is a normal days activity and James would do it all day long if I could handle it.  Matthew loves to climb up on board as well, but when there are two on the back I have to take it easy for fear of having two heads collide.  You don't need to ask how I learned that lesson.

The local Felts Field had a neighbor day the other week and we got a chance to go a walk around a bunch of cool planes and watch a lot of takeoffs and landings.

James even got to sit in the Sheriff's helicopter.  He seemed a bit intimidated but Matthew was right at home.

James got a chance to sit in the pilots seat of the lifeflight plane and thought it was pretty cool.  I am guessing that the pre-flight check is a bit more thorough after a 3yr old has been in the cockpit turning every knob imaginable.

This is the real reason we go out for a  day in the sun.  All that walking a standing makes for a long nap in the late afternoon and that gives everyone a break.  When James is tired, he can fall asleep in about 3 minutes when he is put in the car.

Matthew is a close second for the speed sleeping, but is a winner for being able to sleep through anything.

It was Car d'Alene last weekend and we went out to see the cruise during the first night.  I like the cruise since you can hear the cars and you also get to see all of them while just standing there or sitting in a chair.  The boys are a lot of fun to take out and about and seem to be more and more fun to hang out with every day.  It helps that they are both so adorable and everyone tells me so when I am out in public.