This year, we told Pearl we were going camping at the ranch. With the tent. I don't care if it is on plush, green grass or that I have a shower, house, and multiple bathrooms at my disposal, it's still camping to me. And even though I know there aren't bears at the ranch, I did have a slight thought about how I'd fight off a mountain lion in the middle of the night who wants a kid-sized snack. Ok, so it wasn't that bad. Except for the wind and my air mattress having a leak in it. The kids slept really good in the tent. We have decided we need a fancier tent though, one that has vents in it instead of a mesh top that keeps it cold but without fresh airflow. If we could still fit in our awesome two-man tent, we would have. It was fun to wake up all of us together in the tent and Cole even snuggled with me in my sleeping bag during the mornings.
The best part of camping though is the wienie roasts. Yum. Cole was more excited about all the folding and lawn chairs though. He snagged any chair without a bum already sitting in it and smiled and laughed with this mischievous grin. 
Cole also found the gate fun. Too bad ranch rule #1 was no swinging on the gate. 
Pearl loved every single part of camping! The marshmallows, campfire, tent, bouncy house (this is a plush ranch people), horses, food, everything. 
Uncle Jesse helped Cole go fishing. I'm just glad he didn't break Ruby's fishing pole... that would not have gone over well!
These three cousins had fun with the swimming pool. It was way too hot and they were way too bored so Jeff went off and found this pool. We had a bit of a meltdown when Emily had to tell Ruby she didn't have a swimming suit. I figured Pearl would have happily stripped down to her panties so Ruby could wear her swimming suit, but well, you can see who eventually decided to just jump in. 
Don't you love Cole's expression when he got caught with the hose... "What hose?"
Sadly, these three did not play so well later. Pearl and Ruby were playing in the tent and Cole wanted to join them. The problem was, Ruby and Pearl weren't so keen on allowing boys in their apparent tent club. For a few, supervised, minutes things were going ok. If you ignore Ruby's frantic, "Get out baby Cole! Stop hitting the tent! No!" This of course only increased Cole's perception that it was part of the game and to tease the girls further. He was squealing with delight, Pearl was giggling, and Ruby was yelling. 
Then the adults turned their backs to the play only to turn back when we heard Cole screaming and crying. He had fallen coming out of the tent and practically put both front teeth through his bottom lip. It wasn't pretty. Seriously, both teeth came close to making it all the way through his lip. I saw Pearl right behind Cole, still in the tent, and calmly asked her if she pushed him. She denied it and I told myself to not accuse her of anything but said very calmly, ok then proceeded to tend to Cole. I guess a few minutes later, she had put herself in timeout for being mean to Cole. She was bawling. I guess Cole did get some help falling out of the tent, but both Jeff and I were very proud of ourselves for not accusing her or blaming her for it. She was already so upset. It took us a long time to get her calmed down and convince her that one, she wasn't going to be in timeout for the rest of her life, and two, that Cole was ok. Having little brothers myself, I know they can be a pain sometimes, but no one wants to give their sibling a fat lip. 
1 comment:
Every cow hand knows you DON'T SWING ON THE GATE! Unfortunately for me, my kids aren't cow hands.
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