Family fun in China

Here are a couple of YouTube videos of Jake in China. The first one was the fountains at Xian, which play every night in the park by the Wild Goose Pagoda. The second was of him ringing the bell at the bell tower and the drum at the drum tower, both of which could be seen from our hotel in Xian.

Our fountain video was posted before, but we took it off because of some kind of video warning from YouTube. Everything is fine, though, months later. We just never got it posted again.

Another day in paradise ...

Today was a great day. We went to church, went grocery shopping (the not-so-good part), cooked out, took a walk and made homemade ice cream.
Nothing so special as being together as a family.

Little Man gives Mama the eye:



Baba cooks out:



Jake helps make homemade ice cream:



Jake eats homemade ice cream:



Here's a few from Mother's Day, including one with Grandma:

Digging it

About an hour from where we live is Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge. It's a 32,000-acre refuge for migratory waterfowl. We go there some to just walk around and enjoy the outdoors (we've posted previously on one of our trips). This past weekend, we headed there to dig for selenite crystals. Part of the refuge is 10,000 acres of the "largest ... saline flat in the central lowlands of North America."

The refuge opens part of the salt flat each year from April to October to the public and you can go dig for crystals. We had never done that, and last Saturday the sun finally came out (we've been having a lot of rain lately) so we headed up there to give it a try.

Jake had a great time, not necessarily digging for crystals (although he did some of that), but just being out and being a boy. We all enjoyed the family time, and we actually came home with a bunch of crystals.

After we got done with the digging, we came to town and got some food and took it to the park to eat. All in all, another fun adventure and another really great time.

Baba digging, Jake supervising




Jake doing his share


Jake and Mama getting down and dirty searching for crystals


What we were searching for


Writing in the sand


Stomping


Walking around


Pure joy, just running for the fun of it


Jake was here


Family portrait

Jake's got the giggles

We were coming home from a recent adventure to Salt Plains (which we'll post photos of later) when Jake started playing his favorite travel game – snake. He was really giggling hard during his attempts to get us with the snakes (his hands), and Violet finally got the idea to pull out the video camera.
Here are a few excerpts of the frivolity, including the best giggle toward the end. Pay no attention to the goofy parents, who are not seen but unfortunately can be heard. :)

Happy Mother's Day

Today is the first time I can truly say I am a mom on Mother's Day, and my little one is playing at my feet to prove it!
Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there, and especially my mom, Sherry, who always has been my best friend, and my mother-in-law, Sue. Both Sue and my father-in-law, Bill, have treated me like a daughter, and I love them very much. They also are the best grandparents to Jacob, and that has meant so much to us.
Love to all and God bless,
Violet

Seven, eight ... a big, fat snnnaakke!

Sunday we piled into the car to go to Okeene Rattlesnake Roundup. Jake has been seeing a lot of snakes on a matching game he plays and outside in our yard (none of them rattlers.). We told him we were taking him to see snakes, and he was ready.
He even ate a little snake, although that was tough since snake is mostly muscle. Does it taste like chicken? Maybe. It was hard to tell by the small bites we managed to peel off the bone.

It's a good thing those snakes are behind bullet-proof glass, or I'd show them what a snake wrangler I am:



Come on out snakes:



These are chicken snakes:



Who says snakes are scary ... scaly, maybe
(P.S. You can try this at home; it's just a harmless rat snake)



What! I'm not touching that. It's a rattlesnake!



No silly. It's not snake, it's a fried Oreo!

Our Tom is a Mom

When we moved out in the country, the cats came with the home. None of the originals are here, but their offspring live on. The feral cats are skittish at best and usually just run away. Once in a while we will tame one enough he or she will let us touch him or her. Since we moved here, all of the kittens that were yellow were males, so we never thought this one different ... that is until we realized She had two kittens on our front porch.
Others have had kittens there but always have moved them. She actually has kept them there. It has been fun watching them grow. Jake has enjoyed them.
Oh, and for the record, both of her kittens are yellow ... and male.