Rain

Man we've had some wicked rain lately.  Hope it keeps coming down!!

Merit badges

We had Court of Honor tonight.  Since we missed the last one, Mason had quite a few merit badges to receive.  It was nice for him to remember all the hard work he has done and he enjoyed adding the new ones to his sash.  Good work Mason.

School spirit

It took 4 years but guess who finally decided to get some school spirit???

Chelsea decided that since it's her senior year she needed to finally start attending the assemblies, football games, join clubs, etc.  She's dragging her friend, Jen, along with her.  I guess the Seniors get to wear crowns so they are wearing their's with Cougar Pride.

Jen and Chelsea are even being twins on twin day :)

Homework

And so it begins...... 12 more years of homework.  When I told Cord it was time to do his homework he said "Yeah! HOMEWORK!" and ran to the table.  Hope he hangs onto that attitude for awhile.  When we were done with his assignment, he still wasn't done with homework so I had to pull out the summer bridges book that I had intended on doing this summer but never did just to give him more homework to do. 

Bonnie Springs

Happy labor day!  We were looking for something different to do with the kid since Mike and I both had the day off.  We heard about Bonnie Springs that is up by Red Rock Canyon and decided to head up there and check it out.  Bonnie Springs Ranch was originally built in 1843 as a stopover for the wagon trains going to California down the Old Spanish Trail. In 1846, General Fremont, on his way to California, stopped at what is now Bonnie Springs Ranch to gear up for his trip through Death Valley. Since 1952, the ranch has been used as a tourist attraction.  It's like an old western town with pony rides, a petting zoo, little shops, and some Wild West cowboy shows that take place in the streets.  Cord heard we were going to a cowboy town and dressed the part.  :)  Chelsea wasn't feeling good and had a lot of homework for her on-line classes so she opted to stay home. 

We saw a duck pond with a ton of turtles sunning themselves on the rocks or swimming in the green water.  Cord kept trying to feed them the food but they really weren't interested. 

The train ride was "thrilling"?  Cord kept asking when it would go faster but it never really did.  Cord still enjoyed it though.  Mason looked really bored the whole time.

I had never been to Red Rock so I was really enjoying the scenery.  Mike rides his bike up here all the time so it wasn't a big deal for him. 

On the streets of the town, I found the perfect place to put the kids.  HAHAHA.

 The first show we watched needed a "posse".  Cord was so excited to be part of the show.  They were deputized and helped chase the bad guy.  Then they put him in jail.

They are getting their guns ready to chase the bad guys.  Those are powerful fingers. 

Mason opted out of the zoo but it was surprising to see many animals just wandering free.  They just were walking around you.  They also had some other animals in cages such as llamas, emus, wolfs, etc. 

Next we went to the opera house to see the melodrama where you "boo", "hiss", "laugh", etc. 

Then it was time to go outside to watch the shoot-out and the hangin.  Cord was upset he couldn't be part of these shows too but the shows were Cord's favorite part.  I got called up to be the "defense attorney" against the bank robber. 

There were some other fun buildings and museums to explore.

The last stop was the wax museum.  Before we went in, the cowboys were talking about how the town was featured on Ghost Adventures and explained some of paranormal activity that has been experienced at the town.  Brianna was looking at me with huge eyes and I thought she was going to pee her pants.  It was so funny. 

The wax museum showed figures that were important to the settling of Nevada but the figures were creepy, they didn't look real at all.  This one was supposed to be Brigham Young.  The picture looks a lot better than the real life statue.  Brianna just breezed through as fast as she could because she didn't want to run into any ghosts. 

On the way to the car, Brianna wanted to get her fortune from the Ol' Miner.  He said something about "he who laughs last, just doesn't get it", or in other words, he was calling her a blond.  She laughed.

I thought it was a fun day with the kids.  It was a lot better than I expected when we first walked into the place.  We wrapped up Labor day by jumping in the pool. 

Movie night

We love having family movie night with popcorn and orange julius.  Tonights movie....... The Lorax.  The DVD came with this awesome mustache that Mason loved.  I think he should wear it to school!