playing after the blizzard & Shari's bday at the ranch

The day after the blizzard finally lifted, we were able to finally get out of the house and make it to the optometrist for our yearly exams. Last year we had waited too long and Noah and Evie's eyes had changed at a bit of an alarming pace. We wanted to stay on top of that. Even though I had Lasix done just over two years ago (January 19th, 2017), I figured I'd better make sure everything was still okay with my eyes. And it is. I can still see 15/20. 

We all were dilated, including Terry and Noah. 

Noah was motivated to make contacts work this year. I think running with glasses is irritating and he wanted to be able to wear sunglasses too. He tried contacts last year but just could not get the hang of it. This time he couldn't get them in on his own so the optometrist finally put them in. So he was on his own to take them out that night, which he did after a long session in front of the mirror with dad. Mastery came after many hours of practice, but he's finally got it down now, a month later.

Terry was modeling what to do for Noah.

We're so cool. But driving while dilated...I wouldn't recommend.

After lunch and a short rest we decided to go to Canyon Lake to see if we could sled. Our normal hill at Meadowbrook was barren, as was the hill by Kathy's where Samuel went into the creek bed. But in the shade of the trees at the park we found the perfect spot. 

The kids tried just about every trick they could. 

I wandered around under the sun a bit. It felt so good. 

Terry took Noah to track practice after an hour and I stayed behind with the rest. I don't think I've mentioned track yet. Yes, Noah decided to compete with RCC this spring and practice began February 25th. They've had several meets cancelled due to adverse weather. Not sure I want to sign up again next year but Noah likes to run in the cooler weather of spring verses summer/fall. 

Zoom in to see Evie's air on that jump. They went over it countless times and had so much fun. One other boy about Evie's age joined them. 

Evie and I very still very much needed our eye protection. Can you tell hers are just the inserts behind her actual glasses? She thought it was great. 😆

I have iMovie on my phone and I just discovered I can combine all of my shorts clips together. It's a lot less work. Yay!

The following day, Saturday March 16th, we went to the ranch to celebrate Shari's birthday, which was the 17th. We had lunch out there and then I accompanied Alice outside to check on the cows. Some of the hens followed us around, ha ha. 

The snow from the blizzard was already melting and everything was a muddy mess. Jerry laid down as much hay as he could. Hopefully the cows would calf in the hay and not in the mud! 

Pretty hen. These are my favorites, the fluffy feets.

While we didn't get as much snow as they were predicting (18"), but the wind was rather strong and whipped up some pretty big drifts. I'd never seen such a large drift here, at the back porch corner of the house. 

Around the back of the house.

This was taken from the front yard. 

Gotta sled if there's snow I guess, even if it's just a really short drop. Ha!

The drift was taller than Evie!

Looking northwest towards the roller coaster.

I climbed to the fence line for this one.

"The hills are alive with the sound of music...!"

Little cousins and big cousins.

Noah was so sweet to stay out there and help the little girls. 

Dwidgie sliding on his knees.

Back inside we sang, had some cake, and played cards. 

Shari and I took some Snapchat filter St. Patrick Day selfies.

Ha!

See? Muddy, muddy mess.

Terry had been out to the ranch a couple times to get Jerry's new cameras set up. They can swivel and zoom very well and were finally working correctly. 

I restrained from putting this photo anywhere on social media, but since practically no one reads the blog, it should be safe here. Afternoons at the ranch are for naps! 👍😴👍

Noah's braces come off!...and ranch sledding V

On Friday, March 8th, after 18 months, Noah's braces came off. 

Before...

...and after!

He looks so very grown up and handsome!

I liked Evan's Orthodontics because they were less pushy and more fun. They sing for everyone who gets their braces off. 😆

My oh my how he's grown. 

They gave him two $5 giftcards as a gift, for Starbucks and McDonalds. We used the Starbucks one right away when we bought some donuts as a reward at Safeway. He took his own selfie, ha ha.

He was the most excited to eat Tootsie Rolls again. He's been so obedient to the rules. He never ever had pop or anything sticky, etc.

First bite of that donut. He kept saying his teeth felt slippery and weird. 

Meanwhile Terry had been getting the other kids ready to go out to the ranch. Jerry needed some help with his new cow cameras that Terry had installed a couple weeks before. 

Had to visit Chuck and the chickens while we were there of course. They were under lockdown due to the arctic temperatures. 

This particular hen wanted lots of interaction. It was so cute how Gramma was talking to her. 

We got to see their very first calf of the year! 

The little stinker didn't want to eat though so Jerry and Alice had to try to keep his energy up with a bottle. 

The whole thing was so stressful! First they had to immobilize the mama by pushing her against the wall and locking this fence in place so she couldn't move. That did not go smoothly though. She kept pushing out at the fence and almost knocking every down. So often ranchers could very easily be killed or severely injured by their cows! Once the mama was finally locked up they tried to get the calf to eat. He refused. He refused the bottle too. I was so worried about him the rest of that day. The next day Jerry came out to find the calf nursing happily away. They'd figured it out on their own. 🙏

We had lunch of course, and when Noah and I had to return to Rapid to pick up his retainers, Terry took Evie, Samuel, and Ezra out to the field for some ranch sledding. 

It was a busy but good day.

sledding during piano II

Just about this exact same time last year I took the littles sledding during the older's piano lesson. Only I didn't want to walk all the way to Canyon Lake like we did before so on March 5th, we decided to visit the hill on the Meadowbrook Golf Course. It is just across the street from Kathy's where we had gone for our first snow in 2016. 

This is the triple hill from 2016. 

I made the littles hike all the way to the top and slide from there.

At first the boys didn't want to even go there, but quickly changed their minds.

After a couple practice runs, Samuel finally hit a good line and rode it all the way down the three hills. He had such fun that he ran all the way back up and tried it again. Only this time it went horribly wrong! He followed that sled line right to the bridge. If only he had gone over the bridge... 

Sadly, he hit the side of the bridge and then dropped under it. He knocked all those bricks out with his speed. 

I was recording a Marco Polo to send to my family while this happened so I got the whole thing on video (sadly the quality is therefore poor). As you can see, Samuel was on his belly facing backwards so he couldn't see where he was going. Also he couldn't hear me yelling. We never ever thought such a thing could happen!

I was frightened that he was in serious peril. I didn't know what was under that bridge; whether it was ice, icy water, or how deep it went. He didn't get up right away so that made me even more afraid. But by the time I ran down there, he popped up, laughing while he did so. 

After that we instituted a new forward facing rule and Samuel never went as fast and recklessly again. 

There were some good drifts at the bottom of the hills.  

I don't think Samuel got a very good slide in after his debacle, but Ezra managed to get all the way to the bottom here. It's quite a long ride. 

Some pretty deeries later at sunset.

Samuel started a puzzle the next day in order to keep himself busy. 

I think I mentioned in my last post how well Samuel has been doing with his reading. He finished his phonics book! It ended with three or four syllable words that were at least third or forth grade reading level.