Forrest hits the big THREE

Happy Birthday to Forrest!
He turned THREE years old on 3/14.

We celebrated with a pinata, cupcake treats for his daycare/preschool friends, a dinner out with his friend Owen, (and great parent friends...good beer....great time had by all!)  

Three years ago this little boy

 

..... was THIS newborn.



We can't remember life without him! He is FULL of life, good life, crazy life, happy life, you name it he is a mover and a shaker. I can say for sure their will NEVER be a dull moment with Forrest G. He keeps you on your toes, always pushing buttons, but always ready to love, to engage, and just plain always wanting YOU. He demands attention and if you can give it, you will be rewarded.
We love you Forrest! Here is to a glorious 4th year of life!!!

Enjoy our wonderful cake eating kid......:-)

The Ranch Bike Mobile!!!

Last weekend I got the idea, (and energy, and bravery!) to FINALLY hook our bike trailer, (Christmas present from Alex TWO Christmas's ago....-sorry honey, pregnant kiddie towing on these dirt roads was even too much for me!!!) to my mountain bike! My mtn. bike , (Jonna, if you are reading, yes, YOUR old bike I bought off you in PA school days!!!) has also seen better days, woefully ignored the last year due to, well, these two kiddies!

But, I finally decided that if I'm ever going to use this bike trailer which I have had dreams of doing, I'm turning it into an OFF-ROAD kiddie trailer! Works, ehh, decently, (yes, kids are in helmets when I'm riding Mom and Dad!!!) except for the occasional tendency for the thing to fall off my bike, (DON'T WORRY Grandma! It does have a safety mechanism and there is never any carnage when this happens, just some ummm, bad words on MY part and a quick fix and we are off and running again!)
We stay on the flat road of course, but have a 3/4 of a mile loop we can do. I can take both kids. But given Forrest's tendency to want to throttle Talin and the most inappropriate moments, (are there really appropriate ones? Probably not, but you know what I'm talking about!) this will probably be a solo bike carrier for awhile at least. Plus, I have a feeling a Cars helmet is a must for Forrest for him to be positive about the experience. We call the bike trailer his "race car" and a "racing Helmet" I believe is what it's going to take for it to be all kosher!

 

Who knows, Fulton Fat Bear Ranch today, Amgen Tour tomorrow!!!!

The GREEN St. Patty's Day at the Fulton Family Home.....

 St. Patty's Day was low key at the Fulton house. We were ALL battling a bug, but nonetheless preserved to make it over to our wonderful neighbors house for a lovely dinner or corned beef, shamrock ravioli's, (thanks Costco!), Irish coffee, (the real deal!), and other green lovelies. Enjoy the pictures! Hope your day was filled with greenery and rainbows....

A beautiful ranch shamrock...a la Forrest...(and this crazy Mom like leprechaun!!!)

Morning Irish Coffee, (minus the alcohol...we're trying to beat the dealthy ol'spring cold here in this Fulton house!!!) But brought out the cute shamrock mugs from Grandma Sheila!

The CUTEST 10 month old little leprechaun around, Mr. T!

Forrest and I post Irish dinner at our neighbors!

Late Winter....to Early Spring...in pictures. Images from the past two weeks.

The Rhyming Dust Bunnies take over this Saturday morning....

We discovered our local library this last Saturday. Forrest and I just happened to go into out teeny local town, (Willow Creek, famous for Bigfoot!...) for a shopping trip and caught a sign advertising a craft and book reading at our little library. I think I have never explored the library thinking that a town of 2000 couldn't possibly support a good one, but boy was I wrong! They had a great selection for kiddies and adults, a great kids corner filled with toys, books, and bean bags to read on, and we had a great time with local young friends. It was a great time for me and my nearly three year old boy. This happens the first Saturday of the month and will become a regular outing for us...living it up big here in the sticks :-)

 

Our book and craft was all about Dust Bunnies. Forrest had fun making his very own Dust Bunny...for about 5 minutes, then got wrapped up in the fun eyeballs. I think our little dust bunny pet ended up with about 10 eyes!

 

Very cute looking dust bunnies....Forrest's was a bit more...ahhh...eccentric??!!

One year ago....

 I was here...cooking a baby, chasing Forrest who was a new two year old, and wondering how the heck I was going to deal with TWO of these crazy but wonderful boys!

And then add a YEAR, and here is this little cute 9 month old, on that same stump chair where he and his mama spent some time relaxing while chasing big brother Forrest. Time does fly doesn't it!

Getting brave with two little boaters under THREE!!!

 

Even if Forrest is soon to be three, in 10 short days...we did succeed today in floating the river with our entire little family. We encountered white water...enough to make the boating extraordinaire hubby a bit nervous....a couple steelhead, (small, but still fighters!), some blissful moments of naked toddlerhood, some diaper drama, and a LOT of gorgeous sunshine and peaceful river watching.
Even though this river is literally in our backyard, I haven't been on it since summer, and this is Talin's first time floating the river. We had Forrest on it at the wee age of 3 -4 months. With Talin, though, given he and Forrest are a package deal, it's taken a bit longer.
We did more than survive though, and 5 hours later even made it home for nap time for the eldest Fulton boy.
The boys both had a blast and Talin even enjoyed a peaceful river snooze in his carseat for the final hour.

Forrest holding Talin's hand during one of the white water sections....very cute!

Forrest checking Dad's progress at getting the rods ready

Happy mama, happy baby!

"wooahh Talin, don't fall down...!"

Happy river boys

Forrest has the BIGGEST dump known to man, gets a clean diaper, and gets so happy he decides to bare it all!

Getting that pee-pee thing down I tell ya....

Little steelie for the Dad and super guide of the group

Some catch fish, others catch GATORS!!!!

We enjoyed the river, and Forrest kept entertained with his Gator dissecting his mechanical fish....whatever works!

What a great day. Hindsight is 20/20 but I'm so glad we just went out and did this. It takes time getting your confidence up with two little rugrats. We want to be the people who continue to do the things that we enjoy even with the kids. And being on the river, having fun with the river, and enjoying river adventures are what we do. We are river people after all, (as Forrest has been known to call us...) :-)

What do you think these two little boys will be?  Two future superb rafters/boaters/kayakers/fishers  perhaps?????