Pearl waited and waited and waited for her turn to ride the horses at the ranch. It was a long wait and I admit I wasn't nearly as patient as she was. With 30 kids and two horses, it took awhile for her to finally make her way to the front of the line.
She eventually got her turn and loved every minute of it. I always get a bit apprehensive when she gets on a horse. A couple of years ago, she got bucked off one of those pony rides TWICE! At the same event! They had some teenage boys who could have cared less about keeping the kids safe leading the ponies around. There was also a parade going on at the same time and the pony Pearl was on got spooked when a band came by. Luckily Jeff had decided to walk alongside her and barely grabbed her shirt before she would have smacked her head on the ground. Then, to make up for the disastrous ride, they let her go again for free. Well, the next pony she got on got spooked or was just ornery and started to freak out. Needless to say Pearl was pretty scared of horses for awhile. But as the old saying goes, if you get bucked off, you get back on.
Cole must think a horse is a big dog. As soon as he saw the horses at the ranch, he started calling them dogs. He was fascinated with them, which has since spilled over to home. He finds every single book with animal pictures in them, and will search and search for all the puppies and horses. He wasn't nearly as patient as Pearl though when it came time for him to have a turn riding the horses. Even a kiss from Aunt Kimmy didn't help his impatience. I didn't let anyone but Troy - the owner - take Cole for a ride. Paranoid, yes.
One of the benefits of being "city folk" at the reunion is that we stay at the ranch the entire weekend. So eventually everyone else goes home and we don't have to wait our turn anymore. All of us got to ride the horses. Me, Kimmy, Emily, Kurtis (his first time), my Dad, and Jeff. My mom was totally bummed she didn't go for a ride, but she had a bum wrist. She had horses growing up and really, is the only one of us who knows what they're doing.
Howdy ma'm. I don't think I've ever seen Jeff on a horse before. He'd make a sexy cowboy, don't you think? He even tipped his visor and threw it at me in a gesture of true cowboy-ness.
The auction was a bit calm this year. My Uncle Delroy got a stern warning from Jeff to not outbid him! And he listened. Before we left home, Jeff pulled out a blank check and said he was bringing the big guns this year, #366 (or something like that). I wish he handed me a blank check more often!
We came home with a jewelry box my Grandpa made. It was the only thing I told Jeff I wanted. We out bid everyone for it, at a price tag of $120. I know ridiculous considering everyone assumes I can get one from my Grandpa anytime I want. But I can't. He is always making beautiful things but gives them away to everyone. He wasn't too happy when he found out how much we paid for it, but I didn't care. It was beautiful and someday I'll give it to Pearl. It has this gorgeous hand-carved rose as the handle and a two different wood grains in it. And of course I didn't take any pictures of it, and it's even sitting on my dresser. I've been lazy with picture taking lately.
Pearl really gets excited about buying something in the auction. Jeff sent her up to look at everything and tell him what she wanted. Someone had brought a bunch of headbands with feathers on them, peacock feathers to be exact. One was on a mannequin head. So when Pearl came back and told us she wanted the head, we all laughed because we thought she wanted the actual mannequin head. She threw a fit with our obvious lack of understanding until we figured out she wanted the peacock headband. The auction kept dragging on and on and on and Pearl was tired and hungry. She just about lost it and ran up to the auctioneer crying and screaming I want the peacock headband. Everyone was so confused that they just gave it to her so she'd stop sobbing. For free! Score! 
My sister was jealous... she had to buy hers.
You'd think everyone would know by now that anything with a peacock on it will be in high demand at the auction!
Pearl wasn't the only one who was tired, hungry, hot, and obviously upset that they didn't get what they wanted in the auction.
I''m not sure what we will do when my Uncle Paul and Aunt Karen finally decide they've had it with the Peacock Family ruffians who descend on their ranch every July 24th weekend for our family reunion. Their ranch is so peaceful. I love Northern Utah but must admit there is great beauty in "coal" country (Price/Orangeville/Joe's Valley/Emery County, Utah). Except for the "top of the world" ... that is just plain freaky! I don't care if you can see the entire state from it, a shear drop off of death with no safety fencing to keep you or your testosterone seeking husband from dropping off the face of the planet, is not my idea of beauty.
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.
Cole loves dogs. Loves. He is totally fascinated with them and can spy a dog half-way across the park before the rest of us even know what's going on. And even though the only distinguishable word Cole can say is "Da" (for Dad), if you listen very, very carefully, you'll notice a slight change in pronunciation when he sees a dog, from a long "a" sound to something almost like he's saying "duh." (Every word Cole has starts with a "d" sound.)
So you can imagine how excited Cole was to see Rex and Maddox... for three, whole days during the Peacock Family Reunion. The moment he saw my parents pull up to the ranch, he started pointing and yelling "DA!" (code for dog). He just knew Rex and Maddox had to be somewhere in the truck. But it wasn't just Cole who was excited. The puppies were thrilled to see Cole! Once we got them calmed down a bit and reminded them with a few stern "NO's!" that Cole wasn't a giant chew toy to jump on, all three were happy as could be.
Cole spent the entire weekend following the puppies around.
He played in their play pen.
Shared his dinner with them. Sunday night, just moments before we left for home, Cole decided the puppies needed to taste his corn-on-the-cob, which he had been sucking every last kernel off. That kid could eat corn for all three meals a day! I don't know how much the puppies enjoyed the corn, but rather they loved the attention from Cole. And according to my family, they swear Cole walked right over to Rex and Maddox, stretched out his hand with his corn-on-the-cob, and said, "Here." I didn't hear it. That kid doesn't say any words so I'm not sure I believe it was an actual "here" vs. some babbled sound. 
And snuck them ice cubes from the coolers.
But the puppy love is mutual. Rex and Maddox know Cole will eventually spill table scrapes or in most cases, willingly share whatever treats he is eating. In this case, a Tootsie-pop sucker. Things started out quite innocently. Cole was a sticky mess, licking that sucker despite a few falls in the dirt and intentional dunks in the dog's water bowls. Gross. I know, I should have stopped it after the 10 second rule was blown out of the water, but it was just too funny! 
Then the puppies got involved.
Cole swirled his sucker in the water bowls, which the puppies were trying to drink out of. He'd take a lick, then give Rex a lick. Then a shared lick, followed by another swirl in the water. Even more repulsive for all you germ-o-phobes out there. 
At this point the sucker sharing was starting to gross even me out. So I moved Cole away from the water bowl. Mere seconds later, Cole sat himself down right in the middle of the tent my brother was trying to set up before it got dark. Then Rex and Maddox joined him. Sharing a sucker while sitting on the tent and being told "get off the tent" was much more fun than playing in the water bowl. Those three refused to get off. Jesse was a good sport, with everyone now laughing and being of no help. Had it been Jeff trying to set up the tent, I guarantee the outcome would have been very different. 
All three were sticky messes, with remnants of Tootsie-pop in their hair, fur, fingers, toes, and clothes.
Cole really, really, really needs a dog.
Jeff got put in timeout tonight.
One minute for every year he is old. Thirty-three minutes is a very long time when a four-year-old is in charge of the timeout.
Yes, it was Pearl who put Jeff in timeout. Not me. Although I did encourage an appropriate punishment for Jeff's "bad decision."
It started when I was putting Cole to bed. Jeff came in laughing - and Pearl screaming in hysteria - and proceeded to tell me he had broken not only her plastic baseball bat, but killed her giant, rubber ducky. Granted the baseball bat incident wasn't entirely his fault. They were playing outside and Jeff whacked the ball nearly into the neighbor's yard, with such force that it broke a small piece of the bat. Cheap plastic. Pearl was pretty upset until we promised to buy her a new, better (and probably pink) baseball bat.
But the duck... he did that on purpose. Not the actual breaking, he wasn't trying to break it, but the hitting of it, yes. I still don't get why he went after an innocent rubber ducky with a PVC pipe anyway... he claims it was a game of judo-chop gone awry and in self-defense. Or why Pearl was so traumatized... she never played with that thing and left him outside year-round to brave the elements for at least two years.
Pearl was so upset that we went outside together to look at the carnage. Jeff wasn't kidding about killing that poor duck. As Pearl told me several times, with big alligator tears streaming down her face, "he broke his wing!" 
There was no consoling her so I just kept taking pictures, trying to hold in the giggles. She finally calmed down when I agreed to tell Santa that she wanted a new rubber ducky for Christmas. Then we went inside to check on Jeff, who remember, had been sent to timeout.
Jeff was a good sport. He stayed in timeout, giggling, but still there. Only he had moved from standing and looking at the wall (laughing), to laying on the floor with his feet up on the wall (laughing). Hmmm.... reminds me of someone else in this house. Then he proceeded to throw a tantrum, shouting such things like, "I don't want to be in timeout! I'm sorry! No timeout! I have to go potty! Mom! " and stomping his feet on the floor. Pearl went into her room, slammed the door shut, and proceeded to yell at her dad to "be quiet!" It was hilarious! I was laughing hysterically while poor Cole was trying to nurse and fall asleep.
And while we'll probably have to pay for therapy someday for Pearl witnessing the death of her ducky, I think Jeff also got through to her on how ridiculous she can be with her tantrums. At any rate, we're still laughing about it!
Cole must think a horse is a big dog. As soon as he saw the horses at the ranch, he started calling them dogs. He was fascinated with them, which has since spilled over to home. He finds every single book with animal pictures in them, and will search and search for all the puppies and horses. He wasn't nearly as patient as Pearl though when it came time for him to have a turn riding the horses. Even a kiss from Aunt Kimmy didn't help his impatience. I didn't let anyone but Troy - the owner - take Cole for a ride. Paranoid, yes.
One of the benefits of being "city folk" at the reunion is that we stay at the ranch the entire weekend. So eventually everyone else goes home and we don't have to wait our turn anymore. All of us got to ride the horses. Me, Kimmy, Emily, Kurtis (his first time), my Dad, and Jeff. My mom was totally bummed she didn't go for a ride, but she had a bum wrist. She had horses growing up and really, is the only one of us who knows what they're doing.
Howdy ma'm. I don't think I've ever seen Jeff on a horse before. He'd make a sexy cowboy, don't you think? He even tipped his visor and threw it at me in a gesture of true cowboy-ness.
