Bumble Bee Ranch

We have been in a group called HOPE KIDS since Tyler was really little. They even have a Utah Chapter that our cousin Kayden, and Noah are a part of. In Arizona all of the activities are a lot further away than we are use to, but we try to make a few of them.

A few weeks ago we went to the large party at Bumble Bee Ranch.  Where we were welcomed with amazing volunteers and food and lots of fun things to do.

Bumble Bee Ranch is pretty far from our house and took about an hour and a half to get there. And trust me, my children do not travel well. The last ten minutes of the drive were on unpaved roads and that helped with the fun bumping of the ride. But we were happy to get there.

The morning of the event a huge crash shut down the freeway on both sides of the freeway so we even had to find the alternate route to get there. We were rebels!

We got the list of things to do for the day when we checked in and headed over to eat before we got going on events. Some of the things on the events had a long wait and the boys weren't interested so we got their list and decided on what we would do.

Ty wanted to ride the "Bucking Bronco" so we waited our turn on that first. He loved it. Dallas had gone to get sunscreen so that my vampire white children wouldn't get a burn, even with the overcast day! While he was gone we got on but didn't ride. But as he walked up we started riding our Bronco.

Tyler was so excited and loved it. LOVED it. He kept wanting to go higher but they were a bit worried   that he wouldn't be strong enough to hold on much higher. But we tried it a few times. He was so funny. He told them he was flying and he was higher than the birds. He loved it and the volunteers were so good to him.

 Dallas wasn't so sure that Tyler would like it but he did. He loves things like that. Which is a weird, far cry from what he use to be like a few years ago. He is such a brave kid. The most talked about thing that Tyler wanted to do was ride a horse. The first time Tyler rode a horse was with his Grandpa at Wheeler Farm. I always thought that all my kids would be riding their first horse with their Grandpa, but that wasn't in the cards for Grayson.
         
Far off in the field  was the biggest little boy in the world. My little baby was riding a horse. His dad was with him for the first of the ride and we swapped so I could get some pictures of Grayson.
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Grayson is a pretty solemn kid. He has a great personality but sometimes drawing him out of his shell takes a little bit of work. This horse had him smiling and he was so incredibly sweet with the horse. He kept petting her and saying that she was pretty! He was so, so happy!

He is so in love with doing something like this. He enjoys it so much and it helps me see into this little difficult child. We are definitely looking at ways to keep this kid drawn out like this.








Next up Tyler was determined to climb the rock climbing wall. He of course, knew that he was full capable of climbing clear to the top with no help so off he went. With some minor adaptations he was able to get up as high as I could keep his feet on the handles but he loved jumping down the wall.

I have always wanted him to try, even going into it we knew he would "fail" by most standards. But a little bit up the wall was enough of a win for him and for us.
(Some day I will be super skinny for all the lifting I do for both of my skinny toots. My arms should be like NOT flabby!)
 
Grayson again, loved this so much. He loved being up in the air and as high as he could be. He was not able to climb it all on his own but he also had a good time. This little boy could live outside in the dirt and the gunk and the fun things with horses all day!

Bumble Bee Ranch was a great successful trip. We probably couldn't go much further than that with the boys for a while. Grayson is the WORST rider. We will be looking at medical flights only for a while.

The past almost year, that I have been working with the Mesa United Way has been so good for me, but being with these little munchkins on the weekends has been far more rewarding or as rewarding as helping those in need. I feel like my need for these 2 has been growing with no way to satisfy it. This for sure helped that out.

We had plans the next weekend to do Sky kids, but I got the super flu that as been hanging around our area and hope to be back on their flight schedule in November.

Easter is coming up and as a social media outlet I wanted to just add a quick note of testimony at the bottom of my blog.  The #becauseofHim movement has me realizing just how important family is. Creating this little family of mine and embracing the joys and lows is part of the plan for us. Infertility was not what I had planned and it robbed me of what I thought my family would be. It has even torn apart my extended family. But this is my family and I want them to have the warm, loving and caring things that I can provide them with. Families, They are forever!