Lego Competition

Toy Town's Lego Competition

Every year Toy Town does a Lego Competition. This is the second year the boys have entered. Always with the reminder that it is not about winning but just trying. They do sooo well creating things! They really enjoy going to look at the other kids' creations as well as seeing their own on display. Devin decided not to enter anything this year. He would rather create something out of mud and rocks or go catch different types of bugs!! He just wanted to be outside doing things instead.

Dillon's Brute Creation

Damen's mini castle, with Halo characters protecting the skull inside.


Quinn's fighter helicopter
They all received a Toy Town T-shirt, a Lego certificate, and 15% any Lego at Toy Town.

First day of School

First day of School

Quinn's first day as a Freshman. He catches the bus at 6:40 a.m. - way too early for me. However, I am his 5:50 wake up call!

Dillon's first day as a 6th grader. Wow - I remember his first day of Kindergarten.
Devin's first day of 3rd grade. A new beginning to a whole lot more learning.
Damen's first day of 1st grade. My baby is no longer a baby - well... he will always be my baby!
It was back to school for all of us, me included, I had to sub for our 4th grade teacher as he was out of town for a funeral. We all survived....it is all down hill from here right?

The Tooth Fairy is coming tonight for Damen

FIRST LOST TOOTH

After a supper of not being able to eat because it hurt to bite into his food we decided it was time to pull that loose tooth. 9 p.m. - got out the dental floss and tied it on. He ran around the house with it hanging, grandma got one tug in and out it came! He was so excited and is now wondering how much the Tooth Fairy will bring....

Neighbor Water Balloon Fight

Not exactly sure how the water balloon fight started or how we all got involved. But it was fun! Shown in the picture from left to right are Quinn, Owen (from down the street, Devin's age), Sydni's cousin, and Sydni (lives in the two story house right across the street from us). Mom and I were sitting in the front yard helping the kids tie the balloons. Our yard was supposed to be the neutral zone but notice how Sydni and her cousing are breaking that zone....could it be that for some reason some of the balloons I was tying kept flying out of my hands???? haha Devin, Quinn, Dillon, and Damen stocking up on water balloons.
Owen and Christian (Devin's age and also Sydni's brother) waiting for Devin and Damen to leave the neutral zone.
The Water Balloon Gang, from left to right, Christian, Dillon, Owen, Quinn, Damen, Sydni, "the cousin", and Devin. Notice the waterguns and the bucket....they ran out of balloons and had to come up with a different form of water revenge....

Alcova Reservoir

The view of Alcova Reservoir just 29 miles from Casper Damen enjoying the sun. The water temp today was a refreshing 72 degrees. What a perfect way to spend a warm day. When the kids get tired of the water there is a small playground right there in the sand. Slides, swings, climbing stuff, monkey bars, etc.
Devin is making a small river, that will lead to the real lake, from his homemade lake. The kids were catching minnows and putting them in the big sand lake they made. Of course, once Devin starts building he ends up with about every kid at the beach helping him out. This is great for Devin because he REALLY likes to be in charge....just as long as the other kids listen to his orders!! :)
Quinn and Dillon had fun taking the tubes out to the buoy's.

They could be out there all day, floating or trying to catch minnow's.
It is quite amusing as the kids did not want to go to the lake this morning. However, we could not get them out of the water to each lunch, and 3.5 hours later still in the water. The best bribe I could come up with was a stop at the little General Store for an ice cream cone. Yummy...everyone had something different so there was much to sample: chocolate, cotton candy, strawberry, chocolate chip mint, and coffee. The next 15 miles were extremely quiet. Just wish I had another scoop for them to last the last 15 miles. One would think they would be worn out after spending that much time in the sun and water....not my kids! Energy galore.

Dead Indian Overlook

Devin, Damen, and Courtney at the Dead Indian Overlook. Gazing at the beauty of nature.
Dakota thinking she needed to be in the truck instead of riding in the back.

That's our little city girl!
Dakota and Courtney playing dress-up! She sure will let those kids do just about anything. Well almost anything, especially if she can get half her body in the nice cool truck.

Fishing & Camping at Beartooth Lake

Dillon had more fun playing with the worms and crawdads than grabbing a pole and fishing. Quinn watching his fishing pole for some movement.
Devin enjoying some quiet time at the campfire.
The boys and the fish. Notice the LACK of fish. The ones caught were pretty small so they would let them go to grow bigger.
Boo and his fishy!
We ended up by Beartooth Lake, which was beautiful, but no camper hook-ups.....not good for some of us that like to have a little luxury while in the moutains.....no names mentioned! :)

The mosquitos were horrible which was another downfall to the expedition. The S'mores were yummy, snow on the mountain, the fishing was fun, netting crawdads was dirty, and the mosquitos never gave up. What more could a family ask for??

We will be back next year!

Crawdad hunting

Quinn putting the net to work. The kids had to catch as many crawdads as possible so we could use them for fish bait later. Dillon trying to catch a few.

He he had a piece of bacon in his net and just the right timing.
Devin, Damen, and Courtney just decided it was easier to walk into the lake vs. standing on the log to catch some. Believe it or not I think they caught more doing it that way! I, personally, would have been terrified to be a crawdad.
Damen was the keeper of the crawdads. Someone would yell that they caught one and he would come running with the bucket!
They probably caught 30 crawdads, which we decided was enough to start the fishing. Off we went up to Beartooth Lake.