Bear hunting time!

The bears are on the move, looking for acorns on the ranch. We went earlier this week and saw 2 right away. Tonight we had Jay, Rosie, and Alice in tow with us and we spotted 2 more :) The second one came out of a tree before running away.

I tried to take pictures while holding Leila on my lap and thru a dirty windshield. So the first bear isn't so clear. But the second one was on my side of the truck so I got a better shot at it... to bad it was farther away than the first. :) More to come I'm sure!

Boys had a blast as always and we stopped at our usual lookout spot to enjoy the sunset. Saw a tarantula, played with it, and drove home in the moonlight of the full moon. Perfect ranch evening.

Dirt track

At the beginning of the month, before Billy left to fight the fires in northern Cali, he borrowed one of the ranch tractors and smoothed out a track for us in the dirt field. It was still pretty soft, so the ranch manager & our neighbor with his water tender, packed it down a little with water & the tractor again. It's awesome! It's about a quarter of a mile loop and the boys are loving riding their bikes on it. I have walked it and pushed my double jogger stroller on it too.
Billy has plans to put some jumps in, if he ever gets another day off! Fire season is kicking right now.
Anyway, it's a great track that the boys can ride around and around on without getting to far away where I need to worry about them.
I'm still trying to convince Jameson to give his bike a try out there. We took off his training wheels, because I know he can balance and ride his bike if he tried. But he is being a little timid about it right now. He'll get there soon enough. For now, he doesn't mind running around it or hitching a ride in the stroller with Leila :)

The Ranch Pool

The boys and I (and Leila, but she gets the shade) have had a great week of fun in the sun. We went to the beach Tuesday for playgroup and played in the water and waves and enjoyed a perfect beach day. Wednesday, Friday, and today we went swimming at the ranch pool! The boys are getting really comfortable in the water. Jameson loves his green monster floaty and cruises around the entire pool now without me having to be in the water next to him. Zachary is swimming the length of the pool, diving to the bottom for toys and jumping off the diving board! Of coarse William is doing the same and has been great in the water for a year or two now.

The boys wake up asking to go swimming. It's such a blessing to have a pool available (for the most part) right on the ranch. We are so lucky! They are so tired out at night from 4 plus hours at the pool, it's awesome. Plus, it gives me some relax time for myself as well. When we are at home, all I think about is what I need to get accomplished and chores I need to do. When I'm at the pool, I'm still on life guard duty, snack duty, baby duty and everything in between... but, I can swim with the boys, and enjoy the beautiful day a little bit more. Yesterday, Leila fell asleep pool side under the umbrella and I was able to swim some laps and relax in the sun. It was a small piece of heaven in my day.
Billy enjoyed the beach with us Tuesday, but has been gone the rest of the week. The pool has been a nice way to break up the day for me.

Just another reason we love living on the ranch!

Best Little Sister

I found a shirt in a bin today that someone gifted me at my shower, or at some point. It's impossible to keep track :) but it's the perfect little shirt! "Best Little Sister"

 Everyone needed their turn holding their best little sister! :)

4 month check up

Leila is getting stronger and bigger. At her 4 month check up she weighed in at 13lbs and just about 24 inches. About the 25%tile.
She had to get pricked in the toe to check her iron level, did fine with that. She did get her second shot and she did scream for that one! Always sad to hold your little baby while they get a shot in the leg :(
She is healthy, happy and an overall wonderful little girl. She is even spoiling me and sleeping through the night most every night! In bed around 9pm and waking around 5 or 6am. I am feeling very blessed.

Organizing collections & a few pictures

The boys have been sooooo into building legos lately that I decided to TRY and find a way to keep them somewhat organized and accessible. That is a big challenge when it comes to legos! We cleaned out a plastic six drawer organizer on wheels that I had in the shed and the boys went to town filling it up and organizing it the way they wanted it.

I also decided to display our beach treasures that we have been collecting on the beach. Mainly the sea glass. It's so pretty and unique, I'm enjoying looking at it more often now that it's out where we always are. I think we will set a goal to search the beach once a week, or at least every other week. The boys love it!

 

 

And, just a few pictures of Leila, growing a little bigger every day. It's hard to believe she is 4 months old already & 13 pounds! She is just an angel baby. Sleeping thru the night most nights, happy and content to be held or put down. She tolerates her brothers and all their "aggressive love" they give her. She is just a wonderful little girl and we are so blessed to have her in the family!

 

 

 

 

 

Grand Canyon Trip

5 days after getting home from camping in the Sierras, we packed up again and hit the road to Arizona. It would have been a really long journey without Billy, but he was on a 6 day off and was able to be with us the entire time!!!! I think it ended up taking us around 8 hrs to get there. The drive is pretty boring with not much to see until you are almost there. We met up with most of the Mills family members in Williams, AZ. Kristy had planned the hotel & train ride to the south rim. The hotel was nice & in the morning there was a pretty corny wild west show before we got on the train. The train was fun, the kids enjoyed their first time riding a train. Leila ended up throwing up on the train just before we were about to get off. Not sure if it was motion sickness, altitude or a combination of the two :( No fun. Luckily I felt it coming and neither of us got to messy. Poor girl.

The Grand canyon was a site to behold. No wonder it is one of the wonders of the world. I didn't think I would be so nervous having all my kids there, but I really was. It was a weird feeling as I am not usually a paranoid or nervous mom. Having the boys all running around on the rim trail and sitting on the wall over the grand canyon was not a fun experience for me. I was not relaxed or fully enjoying the experience until I was far from the wall & even back on the train headed out of there. Hopefully when the kids are all older, we can go again and do some hiking and really take in the grand canyon and all its beauty. For now, I like looking at the pictures we took during our 3 hours we spent there.

The rest of the trip was spent at a rental house that I spent hours and hours searching out on line. We were all able to gather together in one big house and hang out, cook dinner together, play games & enjoy family time. Except for some unexpected upsets, it was a really great time. We had hiking and exploring right out the back door of this house & took advantage of that. The guys also went shooting and found a fire pit that we went out to at dark & roasted marshmallows and ate smores! The boys ran around and played their hearts out with their cousins. I don't think I remember any fighting at all between the 10 cousins that were there! Amazing.

 

 

 

Billy & I both thought Williams was a pretty cool little town and we would go back there and do some more exploring again. It was an expensive little trip, but the experience was great. I guess that's what counts. Thanks Kristy for making the suggestion to visit the Grand Canyon, it was truly amazing :)