Wild, Wild West in Our Backyard

This is what our backyard looks like most days....the dogs are sad to have to watch from the inside....

The Lone Ranger

They were doing an early release of The Lone Ranger at the Air Station tonight, so the boys and i had fun bowling and than went and got in line so we would have seats.  We were in the first 20 in line so we had awesome seats and didn't have to wait forever in line at the snack bar!  The theater is finally open after being remodeled.  Nice to have a closer theater to go to.  The movie was totally entertaining!!!  Johnny Depp was fabulous as an Indian!  The boys totally loved it.  We will probably buy this one for Christmas!

Ty's Shooting Smiles

Ty LOVES to shoot, target shoot.  It is one of his favorite things and he practices all the time.  He really wants to be a Sniper.  When he hits his target he has the biggest smile on his face!!!! Especially when he has set the target up in a unique challenge or the outcome of the shot surprised him!

The Green Phone

June 29

I was talking to Vicki and telling her I was on the green phone! She knew she was special!!! We were waiting to see The Lone Ranger at the New River Air Station theater. They were showing it a little earlier than the release date to the public. It was awesome!!!!

Safari Hunt

Ty found the game he wished we had at our house! He and Ryan had fun hunting all the animals you would find on an African Safari!!! 

The high score happened to belong to Ed! We were joking about it being Dad and he zips out here to play his game but doesn't see us before going back to his tent in Afghanistan!

Boys, Bowling, & Bumpers

We decided to kill some time at the bowling alley today while we waited to get in line at the movies. The boys decided they didn't need bumpers....that didn't last long!!! Gutter ball, gutter ball, gutter ball, gutter ball....the boys decided they wanted bumpers!!!! No more gutter balls and the score was no longer 0-0!!! 6 games and $39 later they were each 3 for 3 and we called it quits! 

Ryan Watches Ty's Target

Ryan is really cute how he will watch Ty's targets with him when he is shooting and help with whatever.  I love watching them!

Farewell to the Trombone

Ty has decided he no longer wants to be in Band....I am sad....I've been telling him to continue just for the easy A, but there are other classes he wants to take, so we returned his trombone....I will miss not watching him in those Christmas and Spring concerts, but such is life.....

Turtle Crossing

Yep, we saw this sign today and we all went, "awwwwwwww"! We also stopped, but no turtles were crossing so we continued on our way.....

4th of July Toes

Vicki and i went and got our toes done.  I decided to get mine ready for the 4th of July!

Smiles on a Park Bench

I told them to smile for a picture for their Dad.....Vicki was kinda choking Ty, but they are all smiling....so it will work!!! Having fun in New Bern on a hot summer day.....

Leah The Bugaholic

Leah is our Bugaholic!!! We've seen here fly thru the air after dragon flys and butterflies sometimes slamming into the side of the house not caring just as long as she catches whatever it was she was after. She has brought in hideous spiders, sometimes not even aware that they were in her fur....I began checking her when she comes in after the first time I saw her come in and plop on the kitchen floor and 2 very creepy large black spiders crawled out of the thick fur of her hind legs!!! This morning she brought in a lovely hippitty hoppetty creature. She and Jasper had fun playing with it in the living room until I decided to take it away, than Leah was all full of protests, howls, and arguments with me! I finally got it away from her before she started shredding it! Than she proceeded to glare at me.....she has an intense glare and always wins any starring contest!  

Wishing Fountain

I told the kids I was going to throw a penny in the Wishing Fountain!!!

They looked in the fountain and said it wasn't a Wishing Fountain because there was no money in it! I told them we were going to MAKE it a Wishing Fountain then and throw in the first coin!

Gonna make a wish when I throw this penny in the fountain....

Penny is in the air....

Successful landing!!!

 Ryan laughed and said, "maybe there is someone that comes and takes all the coins every night!!!" I said, "well, if the coins come with the wishes, he's not gonna be happy with my wish and my wish won't be happy with him!!!" Ryan laughed and said, "you wished for Dad!"

Dinner In A Box

The kids wanted this for dinner....I cook and do dishes....fine by me....

Jasper & Shooting Skills

I guess Jasper wanted to read Ty's notes on shooting skills....he had a little bit of difficulty getting it open....

Jasper should probably do some meditation...

He probably works out enough.....although his Master thinks he is getting fat....i told him the camera adds 10 pounds....

Sitting in the Rain

The big dogs are sitting at the door pouting because they can't go outside right now....why you might ask? Because Ty has spread popcorn around the back yard and is sitting in his fort waiting for some birds to show up that he can practice target shooting on.....

Soooo, while Ty sits in his fort with his soda, book, goldfish, gun, and ammo it begins to sprinkle.....the sprinkling turns into rain and the rain just keeps coming down....

The dogs are beginning to wonder why he is sitting out there in the rain....they are having quite the grumbly conversation.....

Leah has now resorted to howling her frustrations of Ty being able to sit in the rain and she is forced to stay in the house! I think she just smells popcorn! Leah LOVES popcorn!!!! Jasper joins in with her howls with his obnoxious teeth shaking barks!

Ty decides the birds aren't going to come in the rain and starts bringing in all his soaking wet everything's!!!

Jasper just wants to know if there is any food!!!

Ty is very upset about the rain ruining his target practice....

When I asked him how long he was going to sit in the rain he said he forgot that birds don't come out in the rain. I laughed and said, "duh!!!" Than he put his hand over my camera and wouldn't let me take any more pictures.....but that's alright because it is almost time to go to the movies!!!

Boots in the Dark

It was time for bed and Leah was still insisting on holding her ground with SOMETHING in the very back corner of the back yard! She wouldn't 't come in for nothing!!! Jasper wouldn't go any further than the deck and Bella wouldn't go any further than half way across the yard when I asked them to bring her in! Soooo, I had to put on my boots and go get her and hope she wasn't barking at anything that could do a number on me!!! I couldn't see what she was soooo intently barking at but I guess my stern voice and approaching her was enough to get her to retreat! Or maybe she just didn't want me getting hurt! But she finally came in, I'm still alive and whatever she had Bella and Jasper kept barking some sort of reprimands her way!!!

Camry's Make Over

Took the Camry in today for a little make over. She's got her windows tinted! Hopefully this makes a difference in the heat part, but the boys are gonna be happy not having to play their video games or watch movies under a jacket or towel or whatever they have to work with to block out the sun from the screens in their devices!!!

Garden Update

I hadn't checked on my garden in awhile due to all the rain we have had every day I haven't had to water it in forever and that last snake still has me just a bit creeped out!!! But tonight I decided to brave the spiders, creepy crawlies, and possibly slithery creatures to check on my garden. I was surprised to find a couple watermelon, lots of zucchini, cucumbers, squash, and bell peppers a growin' back there!!! Jasper picked off all my large green tomatoes thinking it was a tennis ball bush so I lost all of those!!! That bugger!!!! But everything else is looking good!!! Only ran into a caterpillar and some spiders, thank goodness no snakes were in all those vines I was lifting up!!!

Row, Row, Row...... My Machine

I have been rowing every day. It used to only be 10 minutes, but now it is 30 minutes. It's nice now that it is always daylight and I can see out the windows instead of staring into darkness!!! Today I got to watch Marines practice their fighting skills

And also run by in their gear.....

It was in the 90's and muggy....I don't think the general population of America know what our troops go thru just during a regular day 'in the office' when they aren't fighting bad guys in a combat zone......

Well Played Airmen, Well Played

I went to the gym in the early afternoon today. It was just about empty except for a small group of guys with hair a little longer than Marines and instead of being in green they had on blue shorts and grey T-shirts with the same insignia's on the back. They were all riding bikes. They finished and were gone before the Marine Machines showed up after work to lift weights and run. I couldn't 't help but giggle on my treadmill thinking, Well played Airmen, Well played....! That was probably smart on their part to be done with their bike rides and outta there before the green guys showed up.

It's an I-Hop Dinner Kinda Night

I told the boys they could pick a place to go out to dinner tonight on our way to Scouts.....they picked IHOP....no surprise.  I figured it would be that or Dennys!  I had a yummy omlette, Ty had chocolate pancakes, and Ryan had a burger and onion rings.  It was a very yummy dinner!!!

No Swimming Due To Weather

I went to the gym today planning on swimming for my cardio.....but I saw this sign when I got there. Funny, it's in the 90's, sunny, HOT, and ULTRA muggy!!! Do we only swim when it is overcast and cold?!!! Soooo, I rowed for 30 minutes, did 30 minutes of hills on the treadmill, did 30 minutes with the arm peddler thingy and than did my abs in the (empty) yoga room. As I was getting ready to leave I saw the pool was now open now that it was pouring down rain outside! Soooo, I decided I would swim some laps since I HAD brought my bag with my suit and towel! When I was signing in at the deck the lifeguards got the call that we were in T-COR 1 which means a call could come at any time to close the pool due to thunder/lightning storms. I joked with them that the call would come right after I jumped in! Well, it didn't come right after I jumped in, it came at lap 16!!! So, I got to atleast swim a little bit. The lifeguard said he felt bad stopping me because I was really kickin it in the water! I laughed and said I was trying to get in as many laps as I could before the phone call came in! He laughed and said, "Well, you atleast got to swim for almost 10 minutes" 

Vicki & Indian Guy

Victoria is having a blast in Tennessee with her friend Armani and her family. She spent today doing fun things as well as taking in an Indian show. She said she met her future husband! Lol

June 24

I Can't See!!!!

We just couldn't finish Vicki's graduation cake and so i was throwing it away since the trash was getting picked up tonight.  Ty and Ryan wanted to know if they could smash their face into it.  I said, "sure, it's summer!" so, it was decided that Ty would smash Ryan's face into the cake.  Ryan came up out of the cake laughing and than realized he couldn't see and began panicking walking around the kitchen repeating over and over again "I can't see, i can't see!!!!"  We laughed really hard!!!

Morning Walks

I've been taking the dogs for walks in the morning, individually, if it is cool enough and NOT raining in. Today was one of those days!!! It took a little over an hour to get each of their 20 minutes in but sooo worth it! They are sooo funny!! It is easiest to do this if you start the process with Leah in the backyard as she is the biggest 'lets go for a walk junkie' EVER and she loves being in the backyard in the morning anyways!!! By the time she has her walk she has no idea Jasper and Bella have already gone! Jasper goes first, end of story! Bella barks her little head off the entire time! We can hear her as the door closes and we walk away and we can hear her from a pretty good distance on approach! I take 2 poop bags for Jasper, he has gone more than twice before but those are on longer walks....he is quite the poop machine!!! I also think he likes me walking around carrying a bag of his poop!!! He only pooped once today, I was happy! Bella went next. I could not get the leash on fast enough for her and she told me all about it!!!! Once we were out the door she was ears up and all business! She stopped at each spot that Jasper had thought was important to attack with his sniffer and she did the same! She did her itty bitty poop, much easier to clean up than Jasper's! Much lighter to carry as well!!! She walked in the house all proud and acting like she had run a marathon! Jasper was still panting like he was dying!! I brought Leah is from out back and some how she knew she was going on a walk! She bolted over to where her leash hangs and she was a jumping and a crying and being all the crazy girl she is when she knows she is going for a walk! Just getting her leash on his a feat!!! She jumps on you and knocks you over in her excitement! I finally got her ready and we were out the door with Bella hollering non stop as we left! Leah LOVES the Great Front World as we call it. She likes her backyard too, but she is extra happy out front just walking and sniffing. She stopped each place Jasper and Bella stopped but wasn't anywhere near as interested in sniffing as long as those two did and as usual she did not poop! She refuses to poop in public or maybe she just doesn't think it is right for me to carry her poop!!! Now the three dogs are acting like they might fall over and die at any moment and I'm the one that walked it three times!!! Bella is getting fanned by Leah's tail and when Leah's tail plops on her she is too tired to move! They are making me laugh as I get ready to go to the gym and do my weights, abs, and swim laps....my land cardio is all done, thank you furry friends!!