Carnival Fun

The carnival came to town the same week that we had the county fair. I was really surprised at how many rides and booths they had for being a portable carnival. The prices were, of course outrageous, but it is worth it to see Josh's eyes light up! Most of the rides, Josh couldn't ride because he wasn't tall enough, but we took some of the ones he did ride, and boy did he love it!

He went on this car ride several times and by the end of the night, on his last ride, he was so hyped up that he would scream in delight everytime he passed us, stand up, and even threw his shoe at us!

After we got off this ride, I asked "Did you like it?" and he said "Ya!" (normally he just nods his head). I asked "Do you want to go on some more rides?" and he said "Ya!" So off we went.

Here is our hyper boy, before we went home.

Checking out how he measures up! Just BARELY!

Digging Water Lines

Most of July's project has been the installation of a water line and septic tank for the guest house. I dug some of it with the backhoe and Mike dug the rest with a rented mini-excavator. (Personally, I think he just wanted the excuse to rent the mini-excavator and play on it for the weekend) Here is Josh, he loves sitting on laps while the machinery is going, or supervising the work from the ground, while he eats his peach.

I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures of the installation, but here are some of the pictures as it was being buried.

Yard work

Mike brought home some fruit trees on one of his trips to Utah. Josh wanted to help me plant them, so here he is using his broken shovel to scoop dirt.

Josh was crying one day in the middle of an ant pile because they were getting him, so I went to get the bug spray. He caught on to the concept pretty quick and before you know it, I had a little boy walking around my yard with revenge on his mind, spraying all the ant piles... and occasionally me!

This picture makes me laugh because he got caught in the middle of falling over in the mud. Josh likes to sit in the furrows, while I irrigate, and play in the mud.

Irrigating our field, so we will have pasture next year.

Cute Shots

This boy gets more of a personality with each passing day and is always making me laugh. He helped me make coleslaw one day. I left the kitchen for a minute and when I came back he had the dish on the floor and his face buried in it!

YUM!

"Don't worry guys, there's enough for everyone!"

I confess, it was so hot here during July that Josh ran around with mostly nothing on!

Josh loves his puppy blanket that aunt Emily gave him.

Here he is, adjusting to his cast being off.

Josh's Cast Comes OFF!

We finally took Josh's cast off, yes I did it, using a dremel and a metal guard. He just cried once it was off because his joints were so still from no use. We put him in the bath tub to help them gain some mobility and to wash off his scabies! I spent the next few days working with his leg, massaging and bending, and taking him to the wading pool, where he could stand without bearing weight on his leg. He spent about a month learning to crawl, and walk again.
Just within the last week, he has finally started running again, and there is very little sign of a limp.

Here is the best, or worst, part of the story...Because I took the cast off myself and because the break was a spiral fracture, the doctor turned me into the child protective services. So I got a couple of lovely visits from one of their case workers. Thankfully she was a decent human being and could see it for what it was.