4th of July

This year for the 4th we were able to spend part of the day in Delta and then we headed up to Gary's parents because this is also Ernie's birthday.
We went to the Delta parade. The kids loved it and loved all the candy they were able to get.
Waiting for the parade. Our Pace family crew.

Rylee and Preston

Boston, Taylor, Rylee and Preston watching the parade.

Sadly I did not get any pictures at Gary's parent house. But we enjoyed celebrating Ernie's b-day with a bbq and ice cream cake from Cold Stone (so yummy).

Cool dude.

One day while we were at my parents house Boston was having some fun playing with the hose. Doesn't he look so cool?

The Hogel Zoo

On our way down to my parents house for the 4th of July we decided to take the boys to the zoo. They had been wanting to do it all year. I wish we would have done it earlier because man was it hot. But we all had a lot of fun. My mom and dad were nice enough to come up and go with us because that was one thing the boys wanted. They had asked if grandma and grandpa could come and of course my parents couldn't say no.
They have an amazing bird show where all these different birds can do tricks. This was one of the macaw's.

Me and Boston on the Carousel.

Preston and my mom on the Carousel.

They have been doing something with dinosaurs at the zoo. So here we are in front of one of the life size dinosaurs. This was this first and only one that they would have anything to do with.

This is the baby elephant. It was too cute. And it was amazing. It could do a head stand and all sorts of different tricks. Did not know an elephant could do that.

Boston's Surgery

Back in June, Boston got his tonsils taken out. We had not had any problems with them but they were huge. I had first noticed them back in December when I was brushing his teeth. We went to the ENT and he said they were big but like not quite big enough to remove. So we set up a follow up appt. in April to have one more check. This time they were even bigger. They were just about touching in the middle. So they said this time that they did need to come out.
We went in in the morning and waited for our turn. When they were just about ready to take him they gave him some Versed to calm him down. When they went to take him he wasn't hysterical or anything like I expected but he did cry for me to stay with him. It was a little heart breaking and I may have cried just a little. When they brought him back from recovery he was kind of awake and just crawled into my arms where I held him for about two hours. He just kept on sleeping. Finally maybe three hours after he had come back we got him to wake up enough to eat some ice cream and drink some juice and they let us go. He was so good the whole time. I don't think he even cried at all except for the part when they were taking him. He was so glad to be home. This is the first time that him and Preston had really ever been away from each other for a long period of time. They were so happy to see each other. Boston wanted Preston by his side for everything and Preston catered to everything Boston wanted or needed. That night they went out to throw some water balloons together and while they were waiting for me to fill them up Boston was just sitting there rubbing Preston's head so happy to be with them. I love that they love each other so much. We were so blessed. Boston did not have any problems while healing and was up and at it in days.
Here is Boston and Gary while we were waiting for Boston to be taken back.

Strawberry Day's Rodeo

Back around Father's Day I think we were down at Gary's parents house. Sean, Gary's brother, had his son, Teagen, for the weekend and asked if we would want to go with them to the Strawberry Day's Rodeo. We went and had a lot of fun.
Boston had not taken a nap that day so here he is asleep during the rodeo on Gary's lap.

Me and Preston.

This was my favorite part of the night. They brought out the baby horses and their mothers. These are the future horses for the rodeo. They were so cute. And they just ran around the arena right by their mothers. So sweet.

Tired boys

I can't even remember what we had done this day but obviously it was a tiring day. I came out and found all three boys asleep like this. Too funny.

Bird Refuge

Back at the beginning of the summer Gary was going out into the back yard and the was like 50 birds going crazy up in the trees squawking at something. Then a cat ran out across the back yard. So Gary went out further to see what was going on. He found two little birds down on the tennis court that couldn't fly. The cat had somehow gotten them out of the tree and the other birds were squawking to scare the cat away. Gary didn't know what to do with the birds and didn't want the cat to come back and get them. So he put them in the trampoline and zipped it up. I did not really like this because birds are gross and we have no idea how to take care of them. So I thought for sure they would be there for a few days and die of starvation or something. But Gary could not just let them die, he had to try something. The next morning it was crazy, Gary went out to check on them and other birds were flying down and bringing them food. Luckily they weren't tiny little babies and were able to fly away about two days later. Here are the little birds and their destruction of the trampoline. It was pretty gross to get all that bird poop off the tramp.