U.S.S. North Carolina

   Yesterday we took a field trip to see the Battleship North Carolina in Wilmington. The ship was quite impressive and so large that it would have been easy to get lost if it hadn't been for the tour markers.
   The battleship was commissioned in April of 1941, and used in World War II. The people of Wilmington saved it from being scrapped and transformed the vessel into a memorial to the North Carolinians who gave their lives in WWII.

I had to get in on the fun

     Several friends (namely Leah, Amber, and Megan) have recently done posts of old pictures. So I had to get in on the fun too. I laughed and cringed as I found these old pictures:

Mrs. Hutchins, Donut Day at our house.... LOL

Leah--she's so little! =D

and Beth is too!

Ninja Nathan

Haha... gotcha, Megan!

Daniel and Caleb

Haha, get a look at that face!

Youth Orchestra

These ones are from a field trip in 2009... Man, were we all young!

Ha Ha!

Tabitha!

Wow, it's August . . . no, it's almost September!

    I know that this post is way overdue, but it's better late than never, right? (Seems like I'm always saying that when it comes to blogging... )  The summer flew by super-duper fast (like usual) and August caught us by surprise... like we thought it wouldn't be on the calendar this year...? Thankfully Mom had ordered our books plenty early, and we dug into school on the fifth.

    We are into our third week of school now. Daniel is in third grade, Bethany's in eighth, and I'm in twelfth. Yes, my last year!! I don't know whether to be excited or sad...

Daniel's favorite subject is art. When Mom decided that they would do art every Monday, Daniel asked if on Tuesday they could change "art day" to Tuesday, and on Wednesday change it to Wednesday, and on Thursday change it to Thursday, etc. etc.  =D

pre-algebra obviously isn't a favorite

   Beth's favorite subject this year is history. She has U.S. history (my ultimate favorite) and I am SO jealous! =)

I'm not sure I really have a favorite this year because I don't have history, and Business Math is rather boring, in my opinion. My only video class is Spanish, which has been rather interesting. Unfortunately, no one else in the house speaks Spanish and I get some weird looks from time to time. But I guess they are hearing some weird words.  =)

And then some big news for Daniel...    A few weeks ago he bought the first gun of his own from a man in our church, a bolt-action Savage 270! He was pretty excited, and had to call Pap right away. =)  The gun is a little big for him right now, but he'll grow into it before too long. We haven't been able to shoot it in yet because we can't shoot rifles behind our house (too many close neighbors...  the city ruins so much fun).

a proud gun-owner

Delgrosso's Amusement Park

   While staying at our grandparents for two weeks this month, we went to the amusement park that we have gone to every summer for as long as I can remember. And, our good friends (and "cousins") the Bryants went with us! It was quite hot, but for that reason most people were at the water park. So the lines weren't as long as usual.

Chelsea, Me, Court, and Cameron on the Merry-Go-Round

Daniel's favorite ride was the Paratroopers

The Crazy Mouse!
Chelsea, Dee Dee, and Beth

Courtney, Me, and Cameron

We convinced Daniel to try the Crazy Mouse, and Cassie went with him.
He did NOT like it, however.

Lunch

Daniel with the frog he won

The Long-Awaited-For-Post . . .

BILL RICE RANCH, FAMILY WEEK, 2013

   Well, I waited to get Gram's pictures to go along with what we had, and now I'm like, Wow there's a LOT of pictures here! =) Sorry, hope you all don't get bored with this extremely long post.

   We spent part of the weekend before family week at Melinda & Andrew's, since their place is a little less than halfway to the Ranch, and left there right after the Sunday morning service.

   The trip was going fine until Mom (who was sitting in the back seat because I was driving) noticed that the seat seemed to be getting rather hot and something smelled burnt. We pulled over at a gas station to check out the problem. Long story short, we ended up going to Advanced Auto to have them look at it, and we were told that the alternator needed replaced. Thankfully, Dad was able to do it himself and had the tools that he needed. On top of that, several people had earlier given us money, and it completely covered the cost of the new alternator! Where He guides, He provides!! 

Oh, did I mention that all this was happening in the rain??

   Where were quite later than we had planned, but we finally made it to the Ranch in time for the evening service. Our grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins from Mom's side of the family were all able to come this year, so it was like a family reunion!

(the little guy at the end is our cousin, Micah)

Cowboy Town

Dee, Uncle Tom, Cassie, Uncle Tim, Aunt Jeryl

Get that ball!

Aunt Jane playing Corn Hole

Playing Knockout

Pap and Micah getting ready to get on the Bungee Run

As Pap handed Aunt Jeryl his glasses and hearing aides, she asked, "Am I going
to get the teeth too?"  LOL

Pap on the Bungee Run

Daniel getting ready for the Obstacle Course

Mom playing torpedo ball

Cousin Lincoln

Daniel with his new-found friend, Miss Harmony

Me and Court

Cassie and Andrew

cousin Micah

Playing softball: Dad pitching

Micah and Uncle Tom

Meal Time

the kids table

Andrew, Micah, and Daniel

Dee Dee, Gram, and Caleb (our cousin)

Cowboys

The cowboys sang "Sing as you Ride" every morning before the illustrated message

Cowboy Nate

Cowboy Mike

Riding horses after the illustrated message

Wild Frontier BBQ & Western Show

Most of the gang

Georgie Russel singing "Dav-y! Davy Crocket! King of the Wild Frontier!"

the show was quite hilarious this year

evil Black Bart

Yes, Davy Crocket did escape from the cage and triumphed over his evil enemy =)

The Rodeo

Will Rice IV

It was rather dark in the arena, so most of the pictures turned out too dark or blurry.

Bethany (far right) getting ready to chase the pig

  We all enjoyed the week tremendously, and weather could not have been better, in the high 80s! Except for the Fourth of July, during which it poured all day long! =(  We had tickets for a cookout that morning, but of course, it was canceled. Thankfully, the rain stopped long enough that night to have fireworks. You can't not have fireworks at the Ranch on the 4th! =)