Ranch Wildfire

So we took a very anticipated trip out to the Ranch to see the wildfire damage. The wildfire happened the week my mom had her shoulder surgery, so we were in Waco with her and DJ was at the ranch watching the fire crews do their work. The fire started on a ranch in Ireland (that's Ireland, Tx Ha!) and spread across a few properties including Brock Morris's and ours. Luckily no one lost a home. Thank goodness for Steve Dunn!!! He was out at the ranch and called us, dumped water around the house, and helped get the fire crews to where they needed to go. There were 3 different departments out on the ranch and helicopters dumping water from the large lake on the ranch across the road. Very impressive since it was just land, and a few houses, uncomparable to the 1600 homes lost in Bastrop. We did lose a lot of oaks and in the process of driving across the ranch to get to the fire, the firemen drove through the Indian corral. I still haven't seen the remains of the Indian corral b/c I can't really remember where it is. Mandy and I would see it on our walks across the ranch, but I couldn't tell you how to get to it. We would wonder upon it, but who knows which direction we were coming from. It's a corral made of rocks that was built by the Indians (who knows how we know this). There was very little left of it and now since the fire there is not much left.

The fire reached the ranch on Wednesday and was put out by late that night. DJ said the fire trucks were funny looking, not your normal city firetrucks. These firetrucks have to go across creeks and rocky terrain. We are very fortunate the fire only destroyed the land on top of the bluff. Luckily it didn't come anywhere close to the house. Steve said that if the wind had not changed it would have destroyed more of the ranch and possibly the house. The fire crews were on the ranch until 3 am and were back out the next day to look for hot spots. They also had bulldozers to prevent the fire from spreading. Everyone says this, but the fire truly would burn one tree and not the one directly next to it.

The pictures do not do it justice. It was a sad sight to see. DJ's pics are better b/c they are from the next day. His pics look like we just had a snow and the ground is black. Two weeks later, our pics show most if the black soot has blown away and you see brown dirt. The true hot spots are still black and the trees are black.

Baby trucking across a downed fence. Some association will help with replacing fences due to wildfire damage, so that is why we have pics of the fence.
Hotspot
Poor Dada's blind. We went to the ranch for Labor Day and he spent hours working on his blind getting it ready for deer season. Not much is left of the new tin that he replaced or the new wood for the roof, just a metal stand is all that is left.
Sad trees
All that is left of Dada's chair in is deer blind and some nails.
The girls waiting patiently to go swimming.
Baby hanging out in the old deer blind.

Looking up to the bluff where the damage was.
accidental repeat photo

He made it to the top without us helping. He said if Dada is climbing over then I'm climbing over too!

A few ranch pics (The 2011 drought) :(

Hanging out in the pool at the Ranch. You wanted not one truck in the pool, but all three!

The cows passing by are the greatest entertainment to you! No need for TV when you are at the ranch. We have cows and many cows to look at.

Hangin in the pool watching the cows.

The sad 2011 Drought of Texas. We had some fun times at the ranch, even though it was extremly hot and VERY dusty. You feel dirty until you get back home!

20 months!

• You love us to sing to you, even in public (not my favorite!)! Your favorite is Wheels on the Bus - we do all the hand motions. You love "the horn on the bus goes beep beep" you have your hand ready when are on the wheels part and if we skip to something else like the brakes or the doors - you let us know we are doing it wrong.


• Other songs that you like are Raindrops and Bingo (love the clapping).


• You still love to dance, even if it is music on a commercial you will start dancing.


• Since the drive to Durango and watching the Barney video 50 times (Daddy and I know almost every word) you love Barney. We no longer turn on Elmo - its Barney now.


• Still like going to Stroller Strides on Friday Mornings - lately it has switched to inside the mall to escape the heat - thank goodness!


• You are still a bad eater - I don't think you are ever hungry. But you do LOVE ice cream - popsicles or soy ice cream. You will ask for it 4 times a day. You run to the fridge and say "ice cream ice cream"? When we say no we get a very short tantrum and then you get over it. Sometimes then you will ask for a gummy after we say no to the ice cream. Ha.


• Tantrums are not that bad. They are very short and brief - maybe b/c we give in??? We don't think we give in often - but this is the first time for us!

Meet "Nini"

This is Nini, also known as Little Bear or Dingo.
She was given the name Little Bear, only because she looked like a sweet little snugly bear

That turned into a long lean lanky dingo, therefore she became Dingo

But then the Squirt (named by UNcle D, Tae Tae, and Aunt Christine) came into the family and for some reason calls her "Nini". He can say Reece and Remi, but Little Bear comes out as Nini ?????

Poor Little Bear :( .... She is the best dog! And finally she has accepted, very grudgingly that Harris is part of the pack. She really was hoping the squirt was going back to where he came from. Ha! Only b/c he is rough with her and wants to climb on her and she just wants to be left alone! :)

One day she will love him when he takes adventure walks at the ranch - b/c she loves to go on walks!

4th of July Fio Fun

Frio River July 4th!

Daddy missed half the trip b/c he was in China. We traveled down with Uncle D, Aunt Christine, and Tae Tae. This is the trip you learned the phrase "big truck". We heard it about 100 times on the drive down. First of putting 2 words together.

1st pic is on the wrong post. This pic is from our trip to Wrightsville. Daddy put you in the carry on bin to see if we were allowed to carry you on. Ha!



The day after you fell. Looks like a tire ran over your forhead. You fell and ate the concrete.

You and Jonathan (Sally and Daniels little boy) You guys had soo much fun with those cars. You fought and played. You liked to ride and Jonathan liked to push, so it semi worked out.

Colorado

Durango!!!






I want to go back right now!! We had fun and the weather was awesome!! Missing the weather the most! It was a great trip! We had a 16 hour drive - can you say stress me out!!! For months before the trip I stressed about the road trip. Harris in a car for 16 hours!!! We thought about driving through the night b/c he breaks down on our 2 1/2 hour drives to the ranch. But he did great!!! Never would have imagined.

Car loaded and ready to go! Hillbillies??? Trailer pulling 2 4-wheelers.

Harris in his seat ready to go.

9 hours, lots of stops, 1 1/2 hour stop to change a trailer tire outside of Lubbock and then we FINALLY made it!!! We left around noon and we made it to Lubbock around 9pm. Lubbock is usually a 6 hour trip - Ha!We checked into the hotel and didn't go to bed until midnight- Harris was wild running around the hotel. He had so much fun running down the halls and climbing up the stairs. He didn't want to stay in the room - he thought the whole hotel was free to roam!

This is the prarie dog farm! It was so neat. They are meant to live in this certain area, but the the prarie dogs have expanded and live on the golf course, the baseball fields etc.

We spent the second night in Albaquerque and met up with the rest of the family. We had a nice dinner and got up the next day and drove to Durango. Let the fun begin!

First - the house we stayed in was huge and gorgeous! I didn't take any pics though - darn. It was 6200 sq feet and it felt like it took forever to just walk from our room to the kitchen. They had a wonderful gameroom that the kids REALLY enjoyed playing in. Harris LOVED playing with all the big kids and college kids. He thought he was one of them! They had netflix, Wii, pingpon, nerf guns, 1000's of legos, etc. It was perfect for all the kids!

Daddy and baby on the 4 wheeler - baby loved them (he calls them the "mow mow") This is the front yard of the house.

More prarie dogs - they love carrots and bread.

The house -WOW, dad and all our cars!
The guest house - we didn't have access to this, and the pond

Loved riding the 4-wheeler with gramps!

Yes they have a Teepee - the kids didn't care too much for it.

Trampoline -soo much fun.

We drove up to purgatory one day after horseback riding.

Daddy, baby, Hunter, John and I hiked one day.

Harris did SO GREAT in the backpack. We borrowed the back pack from our cousin Marshall. Harris hung out in the pack while we hiked. He didn't complain at all! Amazing - never would have thought he would stayed in there. He actually can sit still for awhile! I hiked with Kathleen the day before and he did great that day also.

Enjoying a snack. We hiked this trail because the map said there is a "lake" at the top. Well there was no lake and we hiked one trail, hiked another, and still no lake. Then we discovered a hole - which was where the "lake" is part of the year. Ha!
Dinner at the Chuck Wagon. Can you say AWFUL!!!!! We payed $25 for chicken that wasn't chicken! We all laugh now when think of this dinner! Let's say we were eating with all the blue hairs from a bus tour! We all went home and raided the kitchen!

Not in order - this was the "LAKE"
The only fun thing about the chuck wagon was the train! Of course Harris loved it. We rode with all the cousins.




On our way home we stopped at the Albaquerque zoo for a break from the car. Harris loved the Flamingos. They make a funny sound and Harris would copy it.

Hanging out in the truck at the gas station somewhere in Texas. Great entertainment!

We had a great trip and can't wait to go back! It was a wonderful break from our 100 degree + temperatures that we have had for over 77 days this summer in Texas!