I think Ken was surprised by all of the cards and gifts he got. We sang Happy Birthday to him. Some of the things he got were 60 suckers from the Jarchows; 60 plus1 to grow on “pills” from Steve and Megan; 60 fishing hooks from Dennis and Carol and this picture which everyone thought was a great picture. Some of the cards had some great message in them, like the ones from Emily and Dennis. It was a wonderful birthday for Ken.
Everyone watching Ken open his gifts and cards.
We had some new family come this year. Mom, Jeremy, Julie, Alyssa, Emily and Wyatt. We were so glad they came and hopefully they had a good time.
Autumn came and brought Gabriel. She said Cody didn’t want to come because all they do is shoot and ride horses . . . not his cup of tea:)
Of course, before the meal is even done, the kids are asking about riding horses. Here’s Julie on Frosty and Alyssa on McLintock. Alyssa learned to ride very quickly and she really loved it.
Emily didn’t want to ride at first, but then Jillian talked her into riding on Brandy with her. It wasn’t long and she was ready to ride Frosty by herself. Wyatt didn’t want to ride either, but Julie took him on Frosty and he had a great time. After the kids were all done, Ryli rode McLintock, Jillian rode Brandy and Chad and Libby rode Frosty on a trail ride around the whole 40 acres.
And those that didn’t ride were hanging out in the shade… The Shady Ladies plus Todd.
Emily shooting blue rock, Aaron throwing.
Dennis is coaching Dominic on how to shoot. He must have done a good job because Dominic hit the first blue rock they threw for him. He did really great all evening.
Lucas brought his beebee gun to shoot but he wasn’t being very careful about watching where it pointed it. Then he started bugging Nate that he wanted to shoot the shotgun. Nate finally decided to let him shoot and of course, Lucas wasn’t ready for the recoil. As soon as he pulled the trigger he started crying. His shoulder hurt! Nate thought that was the best way to get him to realize that he wasn’t ready to shoot a shotgun. Looks like it worked for now.
While we were watching the trap shooting, I decided to get out some wine. We ladies (and Ben and Nick) sat at the picnic table and finished off 3 bottles of wine in about 15 minutes. I slurred a few words after that so I decided I should get something to eat. Drinking on an empty stomach is not good.
And, as always, when they’re done shooting everyone goes out to help pick up the blue rock that are still in one piece. Here’s Dominic, Nick on the left, then Dennis and Ken on the right.
Then there are the die-hards. Since it was opening day of dove season, Jim and Steve decided to sit and wait for doves. Steve did get a few. Jillian shot one too when she was shooting blue rock. Steve took that one too.
Ben and Jillian brought a frisbee game. He and Ken played it for a while. I think Ben won most of the time.
I think Libby was getting tired, she was carrying her blanket around.
Later, everyone just sat around and talked for awhile. It was a great evening, in fact the whole day was perfect!
We also had a few sidewalk chalk artists:)
