Slip-n-Slide

We arrived in St. Louis last night after two long days of driving. So far the boys have just been playing around Grandma and Grandpa’s house, but we’re hoping to start doing some fun “STL” stuff with them over the next few days.

‘Tis the Season…

The Christmas tree went up tonight, thanks to much help from two very excited boys!

A Photo of Phlop (Which is Gracie’s way of saying “Philip”)

A Ninja, A Racer, and A Butterfly, Oh My…

Philip at the Playground

Cherry Pickin’

The boys had a great time picking cherries today.

I also got a few good shots of Grace, but I’ll save those for the next post.

Philip’s Fishing Fiasco

For our final evening in Mississippi, Julie took the kids out to their cousins’ grandparents’ place to go fishing (Uncle Tim and I, on the other hand, hit the golf course). I’m glad cousin Abby was taking photos with grandma’s camera, because it turned out to be quite an exciting night.

Here’s how it all went down. Philip had his line cast out in in the pond, when a fish suddenly struck. Startled and excited, Philip began to reel in. Although still a ways out in the water, the fish surfaced to the top and looked to be a quite a catch for a little guy like Philip.

But then the unexpected happened. Seemingly out of nowhere, a snake appeared and struck the defenseless fish. But as the snake was trying to kill the fish, the snake got caught on the hook. Philip reeled them in together. He caught a fish and a snake!

I can’t tell for sure (if any of you know, please tell us), but it looks like a water moccasin (cotton mouth), which are deadly. As you can tell from the photo, Grandpa introduced the slithering creature to his shotgun. At any rate, Philip sure was proud!!

Tubing on the Lake

Yesterday Uncle Tim took the boys out on the boat with their cousins, Maty and Grant. This was a new experience for the boys since our type of “outdoor adventure” usually involves mountains, not lakes.

The main event was tubing, and Philip was up first. His cousin, Maty, joined him for the leisurely ride.

Up next were Brennan and Grant.

Here they are giving us the thumbs up! Let’s go!

We started out at a nice pace that kept everything fun and everyone happy.

But then it got a little dicey.

What a great time the boys had! You can view more photos here.

Boys in the Sand

Filling the Bird Feeder