July is always a busy month for us, so be forewarned...this is a long post!
As soon as we landed, we headed home for some quick dinner and then right to town for Bryant's first baseball practice. This was the first year we tried Babe Ruth baseball (instead of the YMCA) and Bryant loved it. He got to hit off a pitching machine and it wasn't "tackle baseball" meaning every kid chased the ball and tackled each other to try and get it. He enjoyed it that he played a position and kids stayed in their position.
The boys and I snuck away to the Painted Pot to make Dad some Father's Day presents. They were super excited to give Trav his belated presents. Happy (belated) Father's Day to our Daddi-o!
More practice on the pitching machine. He did great hitting that night!
We headed to Whitehall to pick up Bella after our trip. Bryant and Garrett always finds treasures in Trav's old room that they want to bring home.
Sleepy little boy didn't want to wake up from his nap.
Bryant got his jersey for his baseball team and was so excited.
He had his choice of numbers and decided to go with #8.
We took the boys to Garrett's favorite restaurant, Pizza Ranch. It is not his favorite because they eat a lot of food, it's because of the games!
Intense!
More baseball - now the start of the games.
Bryant didn't go to camp during the week of the 4th and he got to hang out with Grandpa and Grandma on Grandma Susie's birthday. They went golfing and found a new park with a basketball hoop.
Do you think Garrett likes cake?
Happy Birthday Grandma Susie!
Then, we were off to the Cabin to meet up with Trav's family.
Always love stopping at Bynee's in Ennis on the way to the cabin.
The kids were excited to get some fishing in so they made their own poles and bait...didn't work too well, but they had fun.
You've gotta do sparklers around the 4th of July!
And S'mores too!
I love how well the cousins get along even though they only see each other a couple times a year
I love the reactions in the following 3 pictures to the little fireworks we did.
Garrett wasn't a big fan of how noisy fireworks were, but liked to watch.
When you want to do more sparklers, but they are all gone...
Fishing for real this time.
Garrett was the first to reel one in!
Bryant got one too.
And again another night.
Since 3 of the 4 cousins have birthdays within a month of each other, we usually have a cousins birthday party. This year the party included a water gun fight.
Can Trav still do a back flip??? You decide...
Water fun
Then an Ice Cream Party with all the toppings you can imagine
The kids decided it would be really fun to have a wedding for BeeDee and Bella and that BeeDee was the groom (because she has a beard). They made invitations and practiced their ceremony several times.
The lovely wedding party and attendants.
One last paddle boarding trip and then we headed home.
Bryant feel asleep on the couch before dinner and was out the rest of the night!
And back to baseball...Bryant tried catching one inning. I'm going to say the shinguards were too small and the coaches kept telling him to stand different so his knees were covered. Poor thing looked so uncomfortable the whole inning.
Garrett loves to go for rides on Bryant's motorcycle. He gets to control the throttle and this kid floors it the entire time.
Like last year, we thought it would be fun for Bryant to have his real birthday party while his cousins were still in Montana. The theme this year...Ninja Warrior
In typical fashion, I think I can make him the cake that he wants and Travis and I end up staying up until past midnight to try and create it. But Bryant thought it was really cool, so it made it worth it.
Before his party, he wanted to get ready for the Ninja Warrior course, so he had to do the warped wall at home. I like the beginning "routine"...I think he remembered watching the high jumpers at the Big Sky Conference meet and what they did before they jumped and tried to mimic them. Of course he looks pretty tough at the end of the video too.
I am taking credit for this picture, but Travis worked his magic and made a poster out of it
Go figure we ran out of blue ink right before the party, but super cool sign!
Garrett was really excited for the Ninja Warrior party too and wore his jersey the whole time.
I love Bryant's reaction when he completes the course.
Singing Happy Birthday
He wanted to come home and build all the legos he got from his friends.
And back to baseball again...8 games in 4 weeks! When we showed up to the game, they had an extra jersey and they gave it to Garrett. He was so excited!
Garrett and Bryant's new favorite song is Old Town Road. Garrett usually sings before he falls asleep, so he serenaded me with Old Town Road.
We went out to dinner with Grandpa Jack and Grandma Susie at the golf course and then hit a couple of buckets of balls afterwards.
Garrett in action:
Bryant was on auto-pilot
Bryant wanted to go backpack camping all summer long, so we decided to start with camping out in the back yard to see how the boys would do.
Got their "hobo" dinners ready to cook over the fire
And just like that, Bryant taught Garrett how to swing on his own.
Jello snacks in the tent!
S'mores!
Which quickly turned into flinging flaming marshmallows.
The boys were so tired the next morning...I would say the enjoyed camping in the back yard.
Grandpa Ed and Grandma Betty were over and brought Bryant his early birthday present. He made some awesome things with his 3D pen!
Baseball pictures came in!
Keeping with traditions, Grandpa Jack and Grandma Susie took Bryant golfing at Norwegian Woods for his birthday and took a picture by the troll/ogre looking statue.
And then back to their house for presents
And cake!
Then back home to open more presents
He was so excited to get a swiss army knife for camping!
Garrett gets spoiled on Bryant's birthday too. Looking studly in his new muscle shirt!
And of course the fair and rodeo is always in town over Bryant's birthday. Last year Bryant didn't make it on any rides because he fell asleep at the rodeo. This year, both boys had some fun on rides after the rodeo.
Bryant was such a good big brother and accompanied Garrett on the little kid rides.
To use up the last of our tickets, we rode in the spinning dragons. I used to be able to ride those spinning rides all the time, but one kiddie ride and I was ready to be done!
The next night we went to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa and then off to the Big Dipper for ice cream!
Building more birthday presents
And doing science experiments.
Water fight! And I had just given the boys haircuts. Can you see Garrett's? He wanted a mohawk and trusted me enough to give him one!
As you can see in this picture, Bryant did not take it easy on Garrett.
Build your own boombox radio!
We had a lot of yogurt cups for recycling, but Garrett found it way more fun to stack them.
I realized that I had forgotten to get Garrett in for his year 3 well check-up, so I got two birds with one stone and had both boys do their well check-ups. I'll post their stats another time, but Bryant was taller than Garrett at age 3
And with this long post, I'm now only one month behind!
