Built for Speed.....

Okay, so he's not really built for speed, but he is one fast 2 year old. He's much more coordinated than kids his age and faster.

Stretching out for his first track meet of the year

Wrestling with Aidan.  Much more fun than any real event.

Kya, ready to cheer him on.  You'll notice that she also looks built for speed.  Don't worry Kya, you may not be fast, but you are bound to be athletic.

Go Ryker!  We need to get her some pom poms.

Water break in the bleachers

Check this out.  That is one fast shoe on that ribbon.  I was a little annoyed that everyone gets ribbons at these things, but I did notice this year that they start giving ribbons corresponding with the place they got when they get to the older divisions.  I'm not into this not keeping score crap.  Everyone is good at something and they'll find it eventually, but there's bound to be a little pain and rejection along the way.  Or maybe you'll love doing something so much that the fact that your horrible at it doesn't matter to you.  Or maybe you'll work your butt off to get better.  It's better they figure that out and learn some coping skills as kids than adults.  I know it is all for fun and all I will ever ask of him is that he does his best, but if his best is not 1st place, I want him to know that.

Ryker and Alexis

Aidan and his buddy

Second track meet:  A little colder = less competition

The first track meet, Ryker took off running and was smoking all the other kids.  He got about 5 feet from the end noticed all the parents waiting for their kids and turned around to come back to me. Most kids have a parent at both ends.  We talked about how he needed to run all the way to the people that handed out the ribbons at the end and I would be right down to get him.   The second race, he did exactly that.  He got used to going to Lauren a specific ribbon hander outer so the next track meet he was in the far lane away from her.  He was scanning the crowd as he neared the finish line so he crossed every single lane about 20 ft out to get to her.  Luckily he was far enough ahead that he did not take out any kids.  So now we had to discuss the lanes and why he should stay in his.  In the next hurdle race he said to me while we were lining up, "Mama, run as fast as I can to ribbon lady, but stay in the lines, right?"  I said, yes, perfect Ryker.  He beat all the kids by 30 feet, but didn't jump one hurdle.  He just ran through them all.  The next meet, I gave even more specific instructions.  I should just let him run.  He'll figure it out.  It is entertaining though.

Softball toss

Long jump:  I can't help you here buddy.  You'll need to train with your Uncle Cam.

#1

Bleacher Creatures

Third meet: Rain or shine, this kid is ready!

Waiting on pins and needles for the measurement of his first toss.....

This guy was so serious about helping Ryker with his shot putt form.  Ryker loves it when the "coaches" help him.  I had no idea what he was talking about when we were driving home from one of the track meets one night.  He kept talking about "that coach" at the long jump.  I thought he saw one of our friends or something that is actually a coach at the school.  Nope, it was the guy measuring that gave him a few pointers on how to get a jump that was longer than 4 inches.

Yep, you win little man. No other 2 year olds came out to shot putt a golf ball on a drizzly Wednesday evening.  I'm sure you would have won anyway though:)

Great season, buddy!  We have a pile of ribbons taped all over our house. 

Eat Wild Salmon!

We brought a little ocean to cattle country for the parade. 

If there was a category for best tunes and best throws (mardi gras fish beads, temporary tatoos, swedish fish, fish silly banz, buttons), we would have won! 

I wish I would have been able to get some pics of the other floats, but I was too busy making sure everyone on our float had a crazy hat and passing out popsicles to the other floats.  Here is my Uncle Jim and Larry who were towing Jim's pontoon with all the Kramers on it.  They were in line behind us so there was a lot of hooping and hollaring when the music came on.

Brian and Ty ready to roll!

Lacy with a fitting hat

This is the crowd you get for a parade in Wibaux.  I was a little slow getting my camera out, but these horses came running from down by the creek up to us and then out into the pasture.  They were running like they were excited for our music and Ryker thought it was awesome.

Kara, Nikki, and Ryker 

Nikki has a sweet crab hat but you can't see it very well.  I had an umbrella hat and it was great for this sunny weather.  It was supposed to be all for show, but it turned out to be quite utilitarian with the 90+ temps.

Thank you Ty for the use of your truck and boat, and for getting up early to drive.  You've always been a good sport about my goofy requests and it is much appreciated! 

We Love Wibaux!

We met my Mom, Ty, and Cam at the Gust Hauf on our way home for Uncle Ty's Birthday Pizza Party.  The next day, we got  the cake ready for round two.  Yes, it is a store bought cake-totally unlike our family, but we were busy this trip!

Ryker was scared our first night in town with all the fireworks blowing up around us as we got in bed to read books.  We had to have a long talk about what fireworks were and that they wouldn't hurt him.  I was itching to get him into bed so I could go to the bar and hang with my family for the first time in ages, but it was important that he felt safe in his new environment and I also didn't want to leave him with the impression that fireworks weren't dangerous at all, just not when he was safe in the house.  He has been talking a lot lately about how to build houses.  He's asked me and his day care lady numerous times about many steps of the building process, which I find kind of odd because he's watched a house go up and has a good grasp of the process, but maybe that's what is spurring all the questions too, because he knows so much about it.  At daycare, they did a project where they made some houses so he could get all the answers he needed and she got some Lincoln Logs.  This night though, he wanted to know what Grandma's house was made of, particularly the walls.  I told him wood and sheetrock, to which he replied the pigs house of wood wasn't strong enough and the wolf blew it in.  What if those fireworks get through?  Fair point.  I told him that the three little pigs was just a story, no wolf could get through a house of wood and neither could the fireworks.  He wasn't convinced so I told him that if he trusted me for tonight and went to sleep, tomorrow we would go to the fireworks stand and get our own fireworks that he could do and I would explain what all the ones do that are only for adults to light.  Finally, he went to sleep and I headed up town!   The next day, FUN WITH FIREWORKS!

Popits were his favorite and we bought a truckload so he'll be poppin' it every time he goes to Grandmas for the next 10 years.

Kya corralled in the wagon

He still talks about that punk thing Kara had, then laughs hysterically.  Guess he liked the name.

Tell this kid to stand back and he RUNS from the scene! 

Oh what will this one do, what will this one do?

Nice form on the tank lighting, Kara.

Hey Grandma, remember when you hid behind the car at the fireworks stand?  Let just say Ryker got up close and personal with the scorio and blamed it on her.

Bring on the sprinkler

Ryker enjoyed many of his meals on the deck where he could watch over the neighborhood.  There were campers and trailers parked all over, in town for the big party.

Lacy, Ryker, and Kara ready for the Fun Run/Walk.  Seeing the unisuit make an appearance after years in the closet warms my heart!  I'm so glad Kara would hang on to such a thoughtful birthday present all these years. 

Me, Ryker, and Kara

Sprinkler time again.  Megan and Ryker.

When Megan was done playing with Ryker, she sat down over by the hose and folded it over.  When Ryker went to inspect the spinkler, the obvious happened and it was hilarious.  After a few direct hits to the face and him running off in fits of laughter the game got a little better.  The sprinkler didn't come back on and we convinced him that he needed to say a magic word.  He would run up to it and yell abra cadabra or numerous other phrases we fed him or he came up with on his own and it would come back on.  Then he would yell "boo" and wave his arms and it would go off again.  It was highly entertaining for quite some time.

Kya and Shannon ready for the Fancy Nancy party.

Lacy only pretends to like kids.  I often catch her shooting them glares, especially when they are being loud. Good thing Megan was here to protect Kya.

Then when I call her out on it, she goes back to her 'pretend' party mode.  You're not fooling anyone Lac, we all know you want them to let you sleep in and not scream all day when you are hungover!

Montana Bound

We spent the 4th of July in Montana and took part in the big Wibaux Centennial Celebration.

Who knew the airport could be so much fun.  Thank you random lady for pointing us in the direction of this place.  Ryker is eternally greatful!

He spent about 20 of the 30 min we were in here, trying to jump off the green suitcase onto the lady bug.  Good thing he always came up a little short because that would have been some tumble.

He was pretty distraught by the lack of a steering wheel in this car.  Who that heck makes a car without a steering wheel?  No worries though, he brought his pretend one.

An old pro at this flying thing.  He's all geeked out with is gadgets ready to roll!  This shirt (This is your captain speaking) was a big hit in the airport.

Kya on the other hand?  Not so impressed with her first flight and in desperate need of a nap. 

I have one funny plane story that will never be as good written down as it was at the time but here goes.  I had been restricting Ryker's water because he drinks a ton and I didn't want to have to use the plane bathroom 10 times.  I figured I'd get by with once.  About 10 minutes after the flight attendants shoved those carts out into the isle, Ryker says "Mom, I have to poop."  We were sitting in the far back of the plane, so all three of us trudged the entire length of the plane to the front making one attendant moved her cart for us and with Kya leaning away from me carrying her, trying to grab everyone's hair, seat, overhead compartment, hat, ect on the way by.   We finally made it to the front and instead of going right in and getting down to business, Ryker proceeded to ask 100 questions about the bathroom.  Why is there no water in the toilet, how do you flush it, where is the sink, are you coming in, is Kya coming in, what's that, what's this.....yada, yada, yada.  He finally got started while Kya and I waited outside because it was too small.  When he was finished, he kicked the door open and yelled "I'm done!"  The first 4 rows were already laughing and the ones beyond that were leaning into the isle trying to watch.  For the grand finale as I was leaning into the bathroom trying to help him wipe and keep him from touching too many things, Kya was holding on to the door jamb pulling herself back out so she could look at all the people.  She had also just hit the stage where she was "finding" her voice, so she was screaming in a high pitched tone at everyone just for fun.  She is quite strong (her daycare lady says changing her is like wrestling a crocodile) so she was pulling me out of the bathroom, making it harder for me to reach Ryker and get this thing over with.  Finally after stumbling out of the bathroom, then back in with his pants and underwear around his knees we had our hand sanitizer and were on our way.  He had about 20 more questions for the long walk back to our seats, many dealing with the blue water that came out of the toilet and if the toilet was going to smash his poop like the one on the boat (thank you Seth for explaining the details of the grinder).  Everyone was grinning from ear to ear at us.  I'm so glad we could provide the entertainment for the flight.  We made it to Billings, Kara picked us up with DVD player ready to go (Ryker was pretty pleased with that since he's never watched a movie in the car-Thank you Uncle Brian!), and we headed for Wibaux to help celebrate Ty's birthday.  And oh yeah, we had to stop 2 more times on the 4 hour drive to Wibaux for him to poop again.  Really? 3 poops in one day?  That never happens.  So much for restricting water.  I now know why my parents dreaded traveling with four of us and I didn't fly on an airplane until I was 15.