Cache's first birthday party!

We had a little birthday party for Cache with a few of our friends. There was only one other kid that was able to come, but it was still fun. We had burgers, brats, watermelon, chips, homemade salsa, soda and of course cupcakes! He sure was a show off too! He got up and ran around with his walking toy and walked back and forth in the middle for a long time watching people to make sure he was getting all of the attention. Our friend's Jill and Major brought their little man Tyler (6 months old) and he played with him and watched him for a while. He even picked up a toy that Tyler dropped and gave it back to him! It was so cute! He did it a couple more times, but started to get confused as to why Tyler wasn't giving it back. He did love opening his presents though! He still hasn't quite figured out how to do it on his own, but it was the end result that mattered. :) Overall it was fun! Enjoy the pictures!

Singing Happy Birthday! He was more interested in the flames....

He wanted to try putting it out with his hands!

"Mom! What is that?!"

He tried to give it back to me!

Eventually he got into it...though I think Jared ate more of it than he actually did

Dad's old cell phone makes the perfect cupcake mashing tool! And sprinkles to top it off!

The best way to eat cupcake...off a phone-fork! (Carol and Jason in the background)

"What?" It got in his hair at this point

Then it was time for presents! After much cleaning...

Sunglasses from Jill, Major and Tyler along with some swim diapers for the pool!

Card from Carol and Jason

Story Time book from Carol and Jason

Fridge magnet toy from Jordon, Liana and Ethan! He loves that it makes car sounds

A neat book to put pictures of our family and friends since we are so far away! Thanks Grammy Marquis!

Another look at the sunglasses...we will see if he keeps them on lol

Baby float from me and Jared so he can play in the pool!

Birthday Balloons!

Playing with his Yookidoo! He loves faucets so this is perfect!

Ball pit house from Grammy!

His pirate ship water table from GGMa and GGPa Franco!

Carrying around his new toy! Tyler is sleeping in the background in Cache's bouncy chair.

Not sleeping anymore! Cache was showing Tyler how to walk. That elephant is what Cache picked up for him when Tyler dropped it.

That was the fun birthday party that we had! It was so awesome that we could share it with some friends, though we wish we could have had some family and other friends over too!

RANDOM PICTURES
And here are a couple of random pictures I just wanted to share!

Cache and Tytan sleeping after a short trip in the Truck to Springfield, SD to get my Durango fixed. Taycee was asleep too, but Jenna had already put her in their car.

The new play equipment at the park! This will be tons of fun when Cache is old enough. This is right next to the pool too!

Czech Days June 17, 2011

Being that the local population is somewhere around 90% Czech (and proud of it!) They have annual celebrations that allow everyone to celebrate their heritage and get together and eat Czech food! It seems like every town here has some form of festivities that they put on to spread the "Czech Love". We went to the one in Tabor this last weekend and it was fun! It's much smaller that Fall City Days, but it was something to do and there was a parade. We got there about halfway through the parade, but in enough time to see some fun things! Cache had a lot of fun sitting in the stroller and watching all the cool things roll by. There were a few unique things that you wouldn't expect to see pretty much anywhere else! However, I kept expecting to see a group of unicyclers come rolling around the corner!

Thought this was funny...notice the sign on the back. This is a "poop spreader"

Part of the Shriner's train

Watching from the shadows of the fire house! He's holding  fireworks poppers that the local fireworks seller was passing out instead of candy.

Front of the Shriners train

HUGE tractor! There was a little girl waving like a pageant queen in the window :)

Mommy and Cache

This is the Oriental Band....though no one was oriental. :) They sang funny songs

Oriental Band

Our friend Major is riding on this float in the far back

After the parade we headed to get some food, which wasn't hard to find. At the firehouse they had pork sandwhiches with BBQ sauce, water and vanilla shakes! There were also other establishments with different Czech food being served, but we liked supporting the firehouse. There were rides and bumper cars and all kinds of crafts, just like any other festival. We walked up and down a few times, but Cache was too small for the rides and it was HOT outside (80's) so we only stayed a little while. But we did run into a few people we knew so it was nice to get out and see people.

Eating lunch in the shade

This was the national anthem...followed by the Czech national anthem. Notice the outfits. It was not uncommon to see people dressed up like that just for fun!

For example...her :)

Well, it was a day of fun and I'm glad we went. Even though it was hot, it was good to get out and do something fun! They sure do take their celebrations seriously around here, especially when it comes to their heritage! I'm glad we could enjoy it. :) I kinda wish Cache could have worn some cute Czech outfit...:) Or possibly lederhosen! :)

Hot Dog Days and Rummage Sale Saturday

Apparently out here in these small towns in South Dakota, there is this occasion called "Hot Dog Days". Tyndall has one every year, along with most of the other towns around here. It's advertised on the radio, people spread the word, and it's considered the preliminary to the ultimate Czech Days which will be held next weekend in the next town over (Tabor). So, at these Hot Dog Days they close down Main Street and all the businesses grill hot dogs and hand out beer or cool aid for free! Each business tries to "out-do" the other by having the better dogs or toppings. They take their hot dogs very seriously here. There weren't ANY store bought hot dogs in sight. Everything was homemade from the butcher. Different flavors, different colors and different toppings. It was certainly the most unique celebration I have seen yet! Of course, there were bands playing, I believe there were three. ALL of them were polka bands and ALL of them had fairly old members. I'm guessing a lot of them were in their 70's. You could tell who had been raised all their lives with things like this because there were old couples sitting on the side of the road in lawn chairs just watching the festivities. They seemed to be in their element. :)

Fire Truck! I have my scrubs on because I worked that day and they picked me up and we walked down town.

Cache trying to put my sunglasses on his head

A sample of the cars at the car show section

One of the Polka bands

Cache loved the hot dogs! Mustard face!

Also, the day after Hot Dog Days is the city wide Rummage Sale here in Tyndall. Apparently they take their rummage sales very seriously too because when we went walking at 9 am there were plenty of people out with their cars trying to hit the sales early so they can get the "good stuff". I was told that most of the sellers pack up shop at noon, so we thought we'd look while we were out. We didn't find a whole lot, but Cache did get a few books and some toy tanks. But he did find something that he seems to love for only $3!

Swim little fishy!

So for Cache's birthday I thought it would be a good idea to do something fun since it was a Monday and I wanted to mark the occasion. Both thankfully and not thankfully it was 99 degrees that day so I ended up taking him to the local kiddie pool/fountain to play around. Of course because it was a hot day, there were TONS of kids playing in the big pool and also in the kiddie pool. We lucked out and were able to invite a friend and her kids along to play with us. When we first got there, Cache did not appreciate me putting him in the cold water after being in the hot weather. I have to admit that it was a little shocking for me too, but after I got used to it, it was lovely! Jenna and I sat in the shallow end of the kiddie pool with our little ones on our laps while Jenna's daughter Taycee (almost 4) ran around with the bigger kids. It probably took about 10 minutes, but the more we sat there, the more brave the kids got so we took them further in. It wasn't long before Cache was walking in the water while holding onto my fingers and he loved it! He can walk all the way to the other end of the kiddie pool and the water is up to his shoulders. At this end there are little jets that shoot a little arch of water into the pool. Cache thought it was hilarious to stick his finger in it and in doing so, increasing the pressure and causing a mini geyser! It sprays every where and he giggles! I think he'd spend forever in there if I'd let him. He was having fun sharing toys with Taycee and Tytan (10 months) (Jenna's kids) in the water. At one point Taycee was playing with Cache and she leaned in close and all of a sudden I hear, "He kissed me!" from Taycee. Cache has officially shared he lovely open mouth, slobbery kisses with another girl. :) UPDATE: Here are the pictures from my camera!

view of the kiddie pool./fountain

Getting used to the bubbles!

Yay! :)

Also, here is a picture of Cache, Taycee, and Tytan in the pool. Tytan is in the background between Cache and Taycee.