Blooms, Boys on Bikes and a Birthday

Hi there.. thanks for stopping by!  We had a busy day yesterday, I joined Gracie in the pool for a swim, then came home just after our older son, Shawn, and his family arrived.  Everyone was outside filling gas tanks and gearing up for some motorcycle and little 4-wheeler riding and some zooming about was happening.  I snapped a few photos of my Stargazer Lilies as I was taking my swim gear into the house.

These are right up there in my top 5 favorite flowers, they are so vibrant in color, exotic and the aroma is aMAYzing!  

It had rained earlier and there were water droplets on the blooms.

See?

I lost all my "hardy" fuchsias - but this one - the others were in pots and this one was in the ground.  We had a hard freeze with snow, then nice weather where things began to grow and then another ice storm where everything was coated with ice for about a week.  That is when I lost all my young potted roses and hardy fuchsias.  It was nice to see this one survived.

I went down into the pasture to see the boys riding and saw how well the pear trees are doing this summer.  This one has a nice blush of color on it.

What a full tree of pears!

Shawn gave the little guys his boy's old quad (4 wheeled motor ATV - All Terrain Vehicle).  Here is one happy 5 year old - Caleb.  They have the speed control set at a learner's pace.

A shot of the 2 pear trees, the barn and Shawn and Beth's truck, Grandpa sitting next to the truck watching the boys zoom around.

I also walked over to our 3rd pear tree and it was also covered with pears.

I think we have Bosc and Anjou pears.

The boys are so lucky that we have a nice big property where they can zoom about on their cycles.  There is a whole upper pasture that is part of their track, too.  

Of course Grandma asked for them all to pose for a photo.  Look who is making sure he's front and center?  :-)

Here is the birthday boy - Gabriel - who turned 10 years of age last Sunday.  When he came home his parents surprised him with a new "dirt bike" and this was his maiden voyage.  Under that helmet and safety goggles is a boy with a big smile!

Here is Hayden.  Some background - last year on a quad riding trip to the dunes, Hayden had a bit of an accident and hit a tree and hurt his chin - an abrasion from the strap.  This is the first time for the quad to be available to be ridden since then and Hayden was apprehensive.  Finally, Grandpa encouraged him to try again, and it took some talking, but finally he did it and he was very happy!

When he got off to give Caleb a turn, I caught his victorious moment.. his roar of happiness.  How cute is this?  A 6 year old, conquering his fears.

Boys having fun.  5 years old.  Amazing.

Here is the cake for Gabe.  A dirt bike track.. the cake itself was delicious, light yellow cake, fluffy filling with a layer of raspberry jam.  

Happy Birthday to you.. happy birthday to you.. happy birthday dear Gabriel, happy birthday to you!

We took everyone to Chinese dinner and they let us bring the cake in for dessert.  All in all a very good day.  Do you have any fun weekend plans?  We are footloose and fancy free, no idea what kind of mischief we can get into.. yet.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)