Like any good redneck, Jake likes to go shirtless and bang his head on hard objects.  Older rednecks achieve the latter by crushing beer cans on their foreheads.  As we don’t stock Pabst Blue Ribbon in our pantry, Jake seeks the euphoric pleasure of a good concussion by deliberately tripping over stuff on the kitchen floor.  Sadly, a header into our ‘soft’ vinyl flooring doesn’t ring his bell like the cranial impact from an aluminum projectile. Maybe we’ll install ceramic tile for his birthday.

I could be wrong about the redneck thing.  Maybe he hurts himself to get attention.  Mom always responds with a consoling hug.

In the future, zoos will only house plastic animals.  At our zoo, the future is now.

In their version of Hells Kitchen, Jake and Ty spent Thanksgiving fighting over non-shareable cookware .  Their whiny, verbal assaults were just as annoying as the staged cat-fights between reality TV show contestants.

In this quiet moment I caught Tyler making ‘octopus and peanut butter soup’ (that’s a direct quote).  Jake lacked the requisite vocabulary to name his confection.

Thanksgiving at Bear Lake wouln’t be complete without sitting around on an ATV.  The excitement on Jake’s face is palpable. Tyler likes to roll in a camo parka and pajamas. I don’t think he took his PJ’s off all weekend. So what if  they were a little muddy by the end of the trip? You can’t put a price on comfort.