Showing posts with label tractor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tractor. Show all posts

Monday, June 23, 2008

Jackson and Kaiser Family Reunions

We had two family reunions this weekend... both in Carlisle, both Dad's family. It was the Jackson reunion on Saturday. The boys and I went w/o Jason because he was working. On the way down Ben kept asking about the reunion. "Will there just be people sitting around and talking?" and "Will there be dancing?" I assured him that there would just be people sitting around and talking and that it was unlikely that we'd see dancing!

The Jackson reunion is a catered reunion -- so big plus that we don't have to make/take food! The way the morning was going, the boys and I would have never made it with food! We were at a small church - Indian Prarie - where several of the Jackson grandparents are buried. The boys did their best to have fun in the church fellowship hall, running up and down a ramp and playing with the play tools we sent. My brother Chris and I spent most of our time corralling them. It's hard to be a kid at a family reunion... I remember the misery myself!! Too much talking! Ha!

There was a photographer that got a large group photo. Amazingly the boys sat for several minutes for her on the front row. The last big reunion picture was in 1980 -- I was 7 and on the front row. Ben got a kick out of that. Anxious to see this next one... in 27 yrs!

After, we tried a few photos of our own. The Kaiser and Huff boys in our family...


Mom and Dad with their 3 grandsons.
At the end of the day, Kyle had a nice hug for Ben.
Uncle Chris and Ben rough-housed outside a bit...
After the reunion on Saturday the plan was for Ben to go home w/Mom and Dad and Owen to come back to Greencastle with me. Jonah was also going with Mom and Dad. Owen was convinced that he was too. He kept saying "go to papaws?" I told him that we were going home to have special time... play in the sprinklers, play outside. He kept saying that no, he wasn't going home, he was going to Papaw's!
Mom and Dad were encouraging me to send him with them, but Ben was pretty psyched about going without him! Finally the straw that broke the camel's back... Owen is all strapped into his car seat in my van. He is looking very sad and says "Ben go to Pappaw's? Jonah go to Pappaw's? Why me not go to Pappaw's?" I told him again of the fun that we were going to have, added in that we would see daddy, AND said... "there's not room in Grandma's car and she doesn't have a movie..."
His response after some delay of looking sad and sticking his lip out... "I sit Bama's (Grandma's) lap?"
So we got him out, set up the 3rd seat in their car, and sent him on his way with his cousins. Ben was complaining, but he got over it I guess. Jason and I decided to forgoe the plans to paint the porch and instead go to dinner and a movie since we had no boys! I think it was a fun night for everyone!
Sunday's Kaiser reunion was at Brad and Judy Page's house. They have grandkids, a big pole barn, tractors, kids toys and a sandpile, a gator, pony rides, and a pond. My boys would have stayed all day!
As soon as we got into the barn, Owen wanted to go outside. He had spied tractors and wanted to go "ride." We passed a gator and he got pretty excited.. but the tractors were the real draw. We sat on one for quite awhile while Jason, Jonah and Ben occupied a different tractor.
Ben quickly found a pedal tractor and went to town. Owen, at the time of this photo, was sitting on a "Dixie Chopper" which was his favorite place at the time (it was a different brand but I didn't confuse him with that).
Owen was almost too big for this battery operated 4-wheeler but he was determined to follow his cousin around in the pink Barbie jeep.Owen loves horses/ponies, but he was way too busy to stop for a ride. This is Kyle on the pony - my uncle chuck and cousin Brad walking with him. Owen was ready to jump in the pond when we arrived. After I explained that our plan was to stay out of the pond he started saying "too deep -- that pond is too deep!" Fortunately no one tested out the deepness... not the little boys anyway. Jonah was much more patient with the fishing than Ben was. And he was making up fish stories already. He may be a good fisherman!
Owen didn't make it out of the driveway before he was asleep. We went then and had dinner with Jason's parents and then back to pick up Jonah and give him a ride to his dad's house in Brazil. After such a long day it was pretty easy to get our two little ones to sleep... they were definitely worn out!!

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Cousins... 2nd post today!

I started to put all of today's events in one post but it would have been ALOT of pics! I'm going to try breaking them out AND linking to a full set of pics in Facebook...

After soccer we went to Bruceville to see Mom and Dad and then on to Vincennes to see the boys' new cousin, Clint. Aunt Tammie handed Clint over to Ben to hold - and I wasn't worried. Even though Clint is not yet a month old, I knew Ben would be careful. That is just how he is. THEN she handed him to OWEN! I wasn't sure about that... but he did wonderfully! In fact, he didn't want to give Clint up. He just kept cuddling him and smiling at him. Very sweet. Clint is beautiful... dark complexion, very alert. It was a fun visit. Ben and Owen really liked to look at him and then hold his hand...

The boys also got a few minutes on Nick's 4-wheeler and lawn mower!
After grabbing a quick dinner to take back to Mom and Dad's and then eating with the boys, we went to Dad's shop for a tractor ride. Owen has been waiting for the ride for days... and as soon as we got to Mom & Dad's today he started clapping and saying "papaw, papaw!" Shortly thereafter he was all about the cows and the tractor.


After the ride down the dirt road and back, the boys went into Dad's shop. Owen spied the 4-wheeler and plainly said "I want to ride pappaw's 4-wheeler!" Of course Grandpa obliged. The boys finished and then played in the dirt... and then along came cousin Kyle. The pictures tell the story there... they had a great time! Oh and this last photo of Kyle... this is his "Uncle Steve" sign. How cute!

A funny from today, by the way... Ben was trying to figure out which tractor they were going to be riding. I said "the White" -- he said "I want to drive the gray tractor!" Me: "yes, that is the White." Ben... "no, it's GRAY!!" This continued for awhile and was then repeated when Grandpa gave the same explanation. I said later, whoever chose to call a gray tractor a "White" was obviously crazy!
Here's a link to a bigger photo album on Facebook!