Horse Swing!

Phineas got a horse swing for his birthday. Here are some pictures of him testing it out.

Sheridan, Wyoming

During our Wyoming vacation, we met up with lots of family in Sheridan and had a family reunion. The rodeo was in town that week as well, so we got to go to the rodeo one night and then watch a big parade the next morning. It was a lot of fun!

 Family picture

The whole Eckerdt family 

 Walking across the sky walk at our hotel

Enjoying a popsicle while waiting for the parade 

Here comes the parade!

Little Bighorn Battlefield

While in Wyoming, we decided to drive north to Montana to the site of Custer's Last Stand at the Little Bighorn Battlefield. Phin had fun walking around the battlefield and checking out the museum and gift shop. It was very hot there that day!

Crazy Woman Creek Cabin

We spent several days of our Wyoming vacation at Crazy Woman Creek Cabin in Buffalo.  Here are many pictures of all of the fun Phineas had while we were there:

The Cabin

 Swinging with Oma

 Phineas loved the hot tub and spent a lot of time in it!

Playing horseshoes with Jon

Having a cowboy nap on the grass...

Well, not really napping!

Playing whiffle ball,

shooting a slingshot, and

roping cattle!

Whittling kindling,

and climbing a cave wall before smores.

Riding in the rental car (a lot - we did 1300 miles!), and

driving it!  (What?!)

Tuckered out.

The Crazy Woman Cabin crew.

Flying to Wyoming!!

Earlier in July we went to Wyoming for a family reunion.  We flew out with Aunt Julie and Jon; here are some pictures of our flight out to Denver.  Phineas enjoyed watching everything, and took to calling the trucks on the tarmac "zippers and zoomers."  Most exciting, once in Denver we got to ride a shuttle bus to the rental car agency!

Phineas' Fifth Birthday

Phineas turned 5 years old last Sunday.  His birthday began in an airport hotel bar, where we were still getting dinner at 12:00 a.m. after getting rerouted because United canceled one of our flights back from Wyoming (there was nowhere else open!).  We finally got home around 1 pm and an hour later Gido, Sandy, Grammie Friend, James and Trisha came over to celebrate.  Phineas was very happy and had a great time, and got lots of neat new presents.  Thanks!

(here's Phineas, 10 minutes before midnight, playing cars and completely oblivious of the bad situation we were all in!)

Riding his bike in the house

Here are a couple of pictures of Phineas being silly with Juno and riding his bike in the house while he waited for dinner.  He has fun!

Preschool Graduation

Because Phineas is old enough to go to school next year, he was part of the "graduating" class at his preschool.  They even held a short ceremony today--it was Hawaiian themed.  Here are some pictures of the crazy-haired kid:

Memorial Day Weekend

Over Memorial Day Weekend we were able to visit with lots of family in Brooklin and Sedgwick. It was a beautiful, warm day so we went down to the beach. While the cousins were having a blast gathering slimy and pinching sea creatures from under the seaweed, Phineas much preferred walking along the shore and climbing on the rocks.

Getting Ready for the New House

We are closing on our new house this week and are getting very excited! It's a 100 year old house that needs lots of work and updating, but we are happy to have a place to call our own. Here are some pictures of us at the house last week when the septic system was being worked on. Phineas liked checking out the excavator they had on site.

Mother's Day 2014

It was a beautiful Mother's Day this year so we went to our old stomping ground - Spruce Mountain - for a hike and then went to Mom's favorite ice cream place, John's Ice Cream in Liberty.  It was a fun afternoon!