Fun, Dickson Style

We like to have unusual activities for the kids around here. How do these sound?

Grass (Mud) Surfing

You know what they say about the obsession between boys and motor vehicles? Take one riding lawnmower, hook a hard plastic sled (garage sale) to the back, and proceed to pull each other around across the lawn. Great fun for the kids, not so great for the lawn! It's been raining like crazy around here so each pass around the lawn leaves streaks of mud behind. I'm reminded of Elder Dunn's comment from the marriage and family relations Sunday School class. When a neighbor chided his father for his farming abilities, he told them, "You see, we're raising boys, not cows". We definitely are raising boys, not grass!

I couldn't get a photo of Isaac standing, here he is sitting

here he is falling!

                                             mud tracks from the fun


Extreme Lawn Tractor Rides

Our lawn mower gets way more use as a recreation vehicle than a lawn mower. Here's Isaac Colson enjoying some extreme lawn tractor time. Good thing he has a helmet on! It's so muddy out there he has chains on the tires (custom built by Dode) to help him get up the hill. They had to use this as a second motorized vehicles because they just can't seem to keep both trail 90's running at the same time. So, while one of the boys zips around on the motorcycle, the other puts around on the lawn mower.

The snowstorm that never was

We don't get much snow here. The weather service was forecasting a "snowmaggedon" with up to 12 inches of the white stuff. It was supposed to hit in five days. Dode spent part of a Saturday standing in the rain putting up our giant slip and slide so the kids could use it to extend their sledding hill. We waited excitedly for the snow. Then, the very next day, we got word that the storm was diverting and all we'd get was our usual winter weather, rain, rain, rain. The water slide sits on the hill mocking us.

        At least the ramp is ready for some extreme trail 90 riding!

                                 (just kidding!)

Stream Exploration

With all this rain (almost 4" so far this month), the stream beside the house is really moving a lot of water. Dode was tempted to get out the kneeboard and hook a rope to a tree so they could kneeboard on it. It's not quite as exciting, but the boys decided they really wanted to experience that swift stream. They found some plastic sheeting in the garage and with the help of some packing tape, they made some hip waders. They spent several hours on their project, trying one thing after another. They finally created a fairly water tight seal only to have the rushing water rip right through the plastic in a catastrophic failure.

                                                              ready to go!