Payton rode a pony today

Payton participated in a school parent's club event - brush, bridle, saddle and ride a pony. The whole thing was supposed to be about 30 minutes, but they kept the kids out on the trail riding 35-40 minutes. All the kids had a great time while the parents just sat around the barn waiting for them to return.

The kids started out getting fitted for riding helmets. From there they went straight into the stalls where all the ponies were tied up waiting. Each kid picked a pony and was given a brush. They spent a few minutes brushing and then a ranch hand saddled them up. The kids helped walk their pony out into the barn. It was a big indoor riding area. The kids were helped up onto their ride and off the went. They walked out of the barn and into the countryside for a nice pony ride.

The farm wasn't too far from Kathleen's work so she was able to come out to see Payton ride. While Payton was riding Parker and the other littler kids checked out the farm equipment.

Parker rides his walking bike

Parker rode his walking bike solo today! Film at eleven or just click the movie below.

Happy 5th Birthday Payton!

Today was Payton's 5th birthday. All in all we think he had a memorable one. We didn't start things until late in the afternoon. Payton wanted a pirate cake and Kathleen made him a nice one.

Payton's party started off with a treasure hunt. I drew maps (clues actually) that led from one to the next. Devin helped Payton read them. There were four maps that Payton had to follow to the treasure. The treasure was in our 'cave' and was a Transformers Bumblebee helmet.
Payton had a Transformers birthday. He got several of them. His pièce de résistance was getting DEVASTATOR! He was really excited about this. Kathleen brought him all the way from the USA. It was a pretty big box.

Payton got several Transformers. Let's see, there was Demolishor, Long Haul and Rampage. These guys are all Decepticons. They're bad guys. And of course Devastator. He's a bad guy too, but he is technically a Constructicon. He only got one good guy, the Autobot Blaster. The bad guy Decepticon Transformers are way cooler than the good guy Autobots. Devastator is actually made up from six different machines, Long Haul (dump truck) and Rampage (bulldozer) make up his legs, Scrapper (front loader) and Hightower (crane) make up his arms, Scavenger is his torso (a huge excavator), and Mixmaster (a cement truck) makes up his head. He is a pretty cool toy. Payton is going to make a Devastator review movie to post on YouTube. I will link to it in a future post.

We're getting ready for Payton's Big 5

Kathleen came home from the USA today. She was really happy to see her boys and they were happy to see her. She had a long trip but didn't have time to rest. It's Payton's 5th birthday tomorrow and she needed to bake his cake.

While back in the States Kathleen got a new camera. It is pretty much the same camera she had, but this one is blue. It also takes and makes panorama pictures with one touch of the shutter button. It is a cool feature. It also takes HD video. Here's a pano picture she took of our Cincinnati house.
Me and the little boys didn't do much while Kathleen was gone. I have a couple of new pictures of Parker, but not of Payton. Tomorrow I will get loads of them.
Parker has taken a real liking to marchmallows. Give him one and he chows down.
Kathleen brought back a Halloween suit for Parker - a monkey suit. She had wanted Payton to wear this, but Payton saw a Dash costume (from The Incredibles) and wanted it instead. Parker's to young to pick his own so...
As I said Payton's 5th is tomorrow. He is really excited about turning 5. He has to wait towards the end of the day for his party, but Mom and Dad know his wait will be worth it.

Happy 1st Birthday Parker!

Today we celebrated Parker's 1st Birthday. the Marciondo's came over for dinner followed by birthday cake. Parker got some cake in his mouth and a lot everywhere else.

Kathleen and Payton did a real fine job on Parker's Winnie the Pooh cake last night. It certainly was a very fine tasting chocolate cake.

The Marciondo kids and Payton were great being Parker's guests. No squabbles at all about wearing goofy hats.