Why Not Nikker?: The Christmas Pictures!

Seven wondering if there is any reindeer poop in the yard...

Wyatt, not quite ready to open presents...but we kinda forced it on him. Poor little guy!

Still too sleepy....

But then, some one helped him open his very own garbage can from Grandma Sue and Poppa John...and his mood went straight to good! He L.O.V.E.S. putting things in the garbage. He calls it Gar-Gar...and will pack stuff to the garbage whether it's good or bad.

So getting one that is his size and all for him was the best... Of course once he opened it, he was done opening everything. He just wanted to do Gar-Gar!

He found himself a garbage bag, lined the thing and went to work!

Then he packed it to the "big" garbage, dumped it and came back for more!

Mindy and Fred.

Mom opened an new Acer Tablet...the affordable version of the !Pad... Also the Droid apps offer more free stuff than Apple. And free is good! (0:

Dad was soo excited to get beans. Man he must be getting old! (0:

I actually put these in with his real gift to give it more weight and sound, just in case he tried to guess what he got!

I'm clever like that!

He said something to the effect of...you little snots...blahblahblah. Is what I heard. This was the only thing that I heard him talk about all year that he would like to have. Of course we all went in on it...but it was my idea...and Chad's shopping that got 'er done... Next year Kacey or Mindy can figure out what to get him. I think it nearly gave me gray hair!! (0:

So this gun is called The Judge...and it's fitting. Because when we were kids, dad was the judge, jury, and executioner when we were in trouble... We will call mom the bailiff...oh, and the jailer... (0:

Oh, the memories...

Can you spot the little boy? It would probably be easier if the camera were focusing on him..

....getting more paper piled on him...

Oh, how he loved it! He was trying to get dad, aka Poppa John to bury him again!

That kid's got the best smile!!

Then we went out to see what they had done to the place where dad grew up.

Schmidt's Mill, back in it's hay day had a large lumber mill, housing for the families that worked there, and even bunks for the single guys. It's been gone for a while now...and the property was for sale. Then the lady who owned it donated it to the state, or forest service, or some government entity of the sort.

And those powers that be, decided to put in a bird sanctuary. Complete with ponds, boat ramps, spill way, and camp grounds....

...guess they are waiting on Mother Nature to fill the thing. The orange line will be floating buoys to keep boats and swimmers from floating down the spill way into well...something I am sure. This is the other side, I guess for run off of the water side. I didn't get any real good pictures of it, but it just sort of ends with a small pond about a quarter mile away. That pond has always been there and we used to try and catch turtles from there when we were kids.

Change happens, and I am sad that dad's old stomping grounds are gone...and worse yet, they are gone to birds and camp grounds... I fail to see them getting much use. It's not much of a destination spot up on "The Hill" and the locals will just go home once they are finished enjoying this wild bird refuse... Not camp. Heck last time I saw a population sign, I think it said 800+/-...seems like there are better ways to spend money.

Have I ever mentioned that I hate birds? They are dirty... Okay, maybe I like birds of prey...they are fun. But that's it... Chickens are tasty....mmmm, Grandma Jo's fried chicken...

Wyatt getting to be taller than his dad for a few! He really likes being tall. Which is good because I get he is well over 6 foot when he is all grown up! (0:

Under the bridge! Oh, how happy he was when he realized how close he was to the ceiling!

He tried and tried to touch it, laughing the entire time. It was funny!

Then he wanted to slide, so his mom tried to help him! The great thing about kids this age is that any attempt at what they want is usually good enough.

Sliding down the spill way was sooo fun for him, and a little bit of a work out for his mom. There just wasn't enough snow to really slide on, but they got down by shear leg power! (0:

Once at the bottom, Wyatt got to wave at Uncle Chad and Poppa John. They seemed like they were sooo far away. And then he found something fun, left behind by the construction people...

A broom!! Wahahaahhoooo! He swept and swept and laughed and laughed!

He did such a wonderful job!

This kid loves to work, even when he is playing he is playing work! I tried to get him to ride the broom, just like his Aunt Nikki does, but he didn't want to!

And then we tromped up the spill way to head to Grandma Watson's for dinner. That would be Wyatt's Great Grandma Watson....

Everyone can breath a sigh of relief as I left the camera in the car and was too lazy to go and get it and take more pictures while we were there...I gave Chad the option of getting it but he declined.