A Day to Be Brave

We were wrapping up our week with Ethan and what better way than with a birthday. It just so happens that Daisy was kind enough to provide one for us.

I planned to go out and get her yummy pastries for her birthday. We usually do Kolaches, but I was craving one of those apricot heaven things from Bake 360. So I got up early to get deliciousness before everyone got up. Ethan accompanied me. I think he was trying to make up for falling asleep the night before. He made it one way...but on the return trip...

What can I say? We party hard.

Here is birthday bear with the leftovers from breakfast.

Daisy chose to go shooting for her birthday. Not the gun kind of shooting she had just done with Ethan, but the archery kind of shooting. She decided months in advance that that was what she wanted. So, archery shooting we went.We have a pretty nice facility not far away. They are legit. They have all the right gear to keep your fingers from blistering and your forearm from being snapped by the string. Look at all these Hawkeyes in training.

Everyone did a great job. Check out some of these shots.

Ivory's was my favorite. Not even sure how she hit that wood column on the side. But clearly, she wasn't the first.

Peapod was great. I don't know if she ever hit a target, but she was great at collecting arrows.

That's some pretty sweet shooting Tex!

And of course, the birthday girl. That bow looks bigger than she is, but she owned it.

Even the parents did some shooting. However, I want some extra gear next time. I'm sure I was holding it wrong, because the string kept hitting my boob. Wow...that hurts. I had quite the bruise the next day.

Archery was great fun. Eventually your fingers and arms get tired, so we wore ourselves out and then went home. Unfortunately, when we got home, we discovered that Moxy had passed away. That led to a morning full of tears and sorrow. Moxy will get her own post because she deserves it. It was quite a bittersweet birthday.

In the evening, we had pulled ourselves together enough to finish the celebrating. Daisy got some awesome balloons.

We measured her and she is still topping the charts. Slated to be one of the tallest Cazier's. (In our family at least.)

Gift opening was fun. She finally got the mirror she has been wanting.

Probably her favorite was the fidget spinner. I actually bought it on a whim. I had no idea my kids were coveting one.

With a gift from Grandma and some shoes from mom, Daisy went into fancy mode, her favorite place to be.

This picture is one of my favorites. While we were opening gifts, Pearl was smothering Ethan with her love, as only Pearl can.

We finished the evening with ice cream cupcakes. Daisy loves them. I think they are weird, but I dutifully make them when they are a birthday request.

Happy Birthday our lovely Daisy cakes! You are a ray of sunshine in our home.

I'm With Him @ Lagoon

While Ethan was kicking it with us, we knew we wanted to take him to Lagoon. The kids only get to go every so often. (Although the older ones had been recently for a school trip, but I haven't blogged about that yet.) We figured that Ethan might like some male company on the trip since Tyler wasn't able to get off work, so we invited the twins. Since they had to pay for their own ticket, only Radi opted to come. (I get it Eli, Lagoon is pricey.)

We packed up bright and early on Friday morning. (No more school for June.) It has been long enough now that I can't remember the order we went on rides or how it all worked, so you are going to get highlights. (With the occasional picture.) Here goes:

* The cooler was so heavy. Ethan and Radi carried it in, but it took them a few stops. I could barely lift it myself. Good thing we brought big strong guys.

* We all wore our cool shirts. Radi borrowed Tyler's, so he fit right in.

* I think we went on Spider first. That is a favorite for everyone. Although one time we went on it, I got a spinny car. I don't like spinning rides and it almost ruined it for me. Yuck.

* I would say Cliffhanger is the MOST broken down ride at Lagoon. Most of the time it isn't running. The second time we walked by, it was working, so some of us decided to go on it. We got soaked. Water poured down our faces as we hung upside down. It was so fun and crazy wet. I believe Robyn, Ivory, Daisy, and I went on it.

* Radi screamed on almost everything. It was hilarious.

* Cannibal was a huge favorite, but Daisy changed her mind about wanting to go once we were at the top of the tower. (Too late.) She started crying and I felt awful, but there was nothing we could do. She cried the entire ride and when it ended, she said she wanted to go again. (No tears in future trips.)

* We all really enjoyed the Rocket. Pearl was too short, technically, to go on it. But after a while, I decided if we walked on like she was tall enough, they would let her on. (She was only an inch short and on one sign, it said she was the right height.) Worked like a charm. So we all rode after that.

* We went on the sky ride several times. We just mixed up who went with who. Here are some shots.

* There is a roof that has a ton of hair ties on it. Weird, but cool.

* Our snacks were delicious. My favorite were the turkey and cheese crepes. I'll have to remember those for next time.

* There were samples of some really killer chocolate milk. Oddly, Radi tried the Strawberry milk, although supposedly Chocolate milk is his favorite. They were both really good. (Maybe he got Strawberry because Ethan did?)

* Radi stuffed his cheeks with grapes. He was trying to see how many he could fit in there. I think he got to 27. When he reached his limit, he spit out the grapes along with a ton of saliva. It was pretty gross, but not nearly as nasty as Ethan reaching over and eating one of the grapes. He said it tasted better than the other ones. (I'll just have to trust you on that one.)

* The kids liked the coasters. We didn't do a lot of rides. Just the best ones. Daisy, Ethan, June, and I finally went on The River Rapids. Ethan was determined not to get wet. June and I thought we could avoid the waterfalls as well. But when we headed under, Ethan was headed toward the falls and the boat bumped the wall and turned at a weird angle, putting the two of us right under the spray, soaking us instead of Ethan.

* One time on Rocket, Radi decided at the last minute to take off his watch. He tried to throw it into the black bins, but missed and threw it in 'No Man's Land' behind the fence. When they got off the ride, everyone tried to get the watch, but Ethan was smart enough to ask an attendant to unlock the gate. The ride attendant thought Radi had dropped his watch from up above, so he thought it would be toast, but Radi's watch was just fine.

* Ivory saw Kiki, her former gymnastics coach, when they were on Cannibal.

* We spent some time in Lagoon A Beach. It was really fun. We went on the waterfall ride over and over and tried to pass each other in the pools. Later we stood in line a REALLY long time to go on a different water slide. Not worth it.

* Ivory lost her glasses in the lazy river. We looked and looked and couldn't find them. At the end of the evening, we picked them up in Lost and Found. They were new glasses, so I was really happy we got them back.

* There are signs on Colossus that say not to raise your arms. Radi spent most of one ride yelling at the guy in front of him to put his arms down so he wouldn't break them on the ride. I'm sad I missed that one.

* We went on Cannibal one final time in the evening. This picture was taken at night. We stayed up until the end.

 * Love this picture of everyone putting their shirt up to their eyes.

* We were going to get ice cream in the park, but I decided 50 cent cones from Wendy's would be cheaper. It was so late that hardly anyone finished their cone. They all passed them up to Ethan and he ate maybe five or more. Ethan was supposed to stay awake to keep me company,  but everyone conked out. It was such a great day of fun. I think Radi was still awake when I took this picture, but Robyn sure wasn't.

 * This was one of our most fun trips to Lagoon. It was great that the kids were tall enough to go on rides. It was great that Ethan was there with us. It was great that Radi came as well. At one point Robyn quoted a line from Swan Princess, "The children seem to get along quite nicely." I had to agree. Ethan and Radi were fast friends already. Thinking of this day makes me smile.

Battlecreek Falls and Shooting

Thursday morning we decided to go on a hike. There are lots of places to hike around here, but I thought Battlecreek would be fun. I haven't been there in a long time. I actually forgot how short a hike it is. And the waterfall is pretty cool. I think we could have done a more intense hike, but it was great for that day. Also, I'm trying to remember, but it seems to me, Robyn had a hurt ankle or foot, so she wouldn't have done well on a more strenuous hike.

Here we are at the trailhead. No, you won't see June. She was at school for one more morning.

I think it looks like I photoshopped us into this picture, but we are really there. I promise.

We took some stylized pictures while we were there. I really like all these.

Love this selfie with Ives. Makes me think of the John Denver song, "Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy. Sunshine out my nose...can make me sneeze." (Maybe that isn't quite how the song goes.)

It was a fun little hike and a beautiful morning. I recommend it to anyone. Well, anyone who likes to hike, I guess.

In the afternoon, Tyler took some of the kids shooting. Here is his side of the story.

[Maleen hands the keyboard to Tyler]

Hey everybody, Raging Stallion here with a quick report, which, for the vocabulary astute not only refers to a brief telling of a story, but also the sound of guns (as in "the report of the rifle").

Naturally, with Ethan in town, we had to expend (ah, there's that gun lingo again) a few hours in the study of America's Second Amendment. This was quickly followed by "Lead Therapy," and the careful practicing of the ancient Chinese art of "Ka'Ching Pow". Along the way we killed some paper, and converted many dollars into decibels.

We took a little trip out to Saratoga Springs and helped Mother Nature replenish her lead deposits. In our party were me, Ethan, Ivory, and Daisy. The girls busied themselves with the .22 LR, plinking the targets we mounted up. Though it was their first time shooting that particular firearm, they made fast friends with it. As a note of ballistic history, here, that's the very firearm I pushed my first .22 rounds down range. I received it as a gift from my father who said something to the effect, "Someday son, you'll take your kids shooting with this gun — just like I took you." He was right. He had a habit of that.

Because any conversation about guns should include a little education, I took the opportunity to explain the basic rules of gun safety to the girls and Ethan again:

1. Treat a gun as if it's loaded at all times
2. Never point a gun at something you want to keep
3. Be sure of your backdrop (when the bullet passes through the target, what's it going to hit?)
4. Finger straight until you're ready to shoot (that keeps the finger off the trigger until you're ready)

After that, we commenced firing, which led to a great deal of smiling, which made our faces hurt, which made us smile more.

The targets neatly taped on a stray pallet someone had lovingly donated to the range.

The first few rounds down range by Ethan, I think. Before you start poo pooing the round that fell outside the circle, take a look a that circle and imagine it on the bad guys' chest. That's a lot of bad guys that aren't fighting anymore.

Our little setup on the other side of the lake...as viewed from the perspective of the targets.

Ivory has always loved the Beretta 9mm. Today was no different.

That there is Ethan and the Mossberg 500 "Persuader." Ethan was persuading the clay pigeons I was throwing chaotically into the air to land...quietly...as powder.

There's my crew, just chillin' with the guns. 

Ivory loved the Rugar .22 LR.

So did Daisy. They were both pretty good shots.

While Daisy and Ivory strived to deplete my .22 LR ammunition cache, Ethan let fly with the .223 AR-15. Turns out the boy can shoot!

Here's a little parting wisdom as I wrap up this post. I'm pretty sure other people have said something akin to it, but here's my take on life and guns: "Always remember, if you're at the range, it's a good day." You can quote me on that.