Guns, logs, water, bones, karate, Finding Dory...and other Independence Day week activities

 We went out west with our good friends, Chris and Teila, to do some shooting.

The temperature was great and the air was very clear.

Slow-motion video of Sam hitting the explosive target.  At 00:21 you'll see the shell fly out of the gun.  At 00:41 you'll see Sam's awesome reaction to hitting the target.  Funny.

Wearing Mama's sunglasses at the car dealership.  We test-drove a minivan.

Shopping with Dada.

From a couple of weeks ago when Grandma took care of Doogles while Sam and I were in Toronto.

 Lizzie and her (six!) boys came into town this week.  We joined them (and Sara with her four boys and the lone little girl in the family) at South Fork Park on Monday.  Here they are after hours of playing in the water and dirt.

Kids are funny.  They found a dead baby bird and this is what they did with it.

 More log photos

 I told them to give me their best grumpy faces.

Walking with his little airplane backpack.

Getting ready to leave the park.

Even after all the torture I put him through (he did NOT want to be in the water), and a swim lesson with help from Granny, he still gave me a "cheese" when I pointed the camera at him.

 "I am Douglas!"

 Talking to the belly

The skinniest dudes at the pool showing off our bones.

He worked up an appetite from all the fussing in the water.

 Happy on the walk back from the pool.

 At Ari's karate lesson

Buddies

 Our neighbor's daughter is allergic to dogs, so they put a leash on their hamster.  :)  Douglas wasn't sure about it.

The boys played outside our home one evening.

Wrestling with Uncle Daniel

Making French toast for the crew

 Playing at the park

 Cleaning up after a few hours at the park.  Douglas and Maxwell........spectators.

"Aunt Lizzie, what's the meaning of life?"

We all went to see Finding Dory, followed by burgers and shakes at Johnny Rockets.  Yes, I cut off a few faces in this photos.  Oops.

 Playing at the fountain after the movie and dinner

 "Let's see, Maxwell, it appears that you've spent some time outside barefoot."

 Sporting the diaper sans pants after getting wet at the fountain

This is what happens when Doogles spends some time around his cousins.

Lizzie found some really cool self-tie water balloons to have a water fight outside the home of Granny and Grandpa Ogden.

The two sides running for the cooler full of water balloons

Clearly loving the water fight

"Sword fight, Mama."

Aunt Sam with Magnus

Grandpa with Magnus

Uncle Joseph with Magnus

Magnus with his Mama

Playing football after the water balloon fight

Uncle joseph and Uncle Daniel against Anders, Soren, and Ari

Jarem made dinner for us after all the play in the water

Lined up waiting for their ice cream sandwiches

The boys ate ice cream sandwiches.  Denali ate corn on the cob.

We haven't had a sibling photo in years!  So fun to have us all together again.

Someone didn't get the memo to stick his tongue out.  :)

This photo goes up with the photo where I'm being tackled by the boys, but I didn't want to take the time to rearrange things.

Early morning of July 2nd.  Traditional visit to the hot-air balloon event.

Dan came in the night before, so he joined us for the day's activities.

Jenny Warner and her daughter went up in a balloon

I was about to put on a movie (Zootopia) for the boys when Gideon said, "Look, Uncle Daniel, we're wearing our Cinemark blankets."

Hmm, this is strange.  Daniel playing Rook again.  :)

On our way over to the location where we would watch the big fireworks show Saturday night.  The larger of the two kids in the back (Jude) decided to strap himself in to Douglas' car seat.

Dad (Grandpa) with Sister Hall.  Brother and Sister Hall were kind enough to let us use a portion of their property to play and watch fireworks.

Magnus with his Dad

Dan made all kinds of glow-in-the-dark items for the kids.

Impromptu family photo

Ooooo.  Aaaah.  Wow!

Protecting the little eardrums

Here is a funny quote from Jude.  We were sitting in the kitchen talking about sleep.  I mentioned that I like to sleep whenever I can get some sleep.  Jude said, "I like to fall asleep anytime we have to clean or do homework."

Grandma, Aunt Kate, Aunt Taylor, Aunt Stacie (not pictured), and Uncle Nate came this afternoon (Independence Day) to play with us.

We had fun conversations and, of course, a couple of rousing games of Rook.  Douglas even joined in the bidding.

 Happy Independence Day!

All of this activity has knocked Doogles out.  He has been sick for the last few days.  Yesterday (Sunday) we took him to church and he slept through the entire first meeting.  Sam took him home after that and he slept until 2:00pm.

But he's still having fun!