A Very Wood Family Thanksgiving

This year Ryan's family decided to get together in Gooding, ID, for Thanksgiving and the above photo is most, but not all, of the gaggle of children that resulted.  They had a blast running around together, jumping on the trampoline, and filling their lungs with crisp Southern Idaho air! 

 No Wood Family Thanksgiving would be complete without spending Thanksgiving morning splitting wood so that's exactly what the guys did.  The grownups did most of the work but the boys stopped throwing dirt clods at each other long enough to take a couple of swings.  Here is Ryan giving Grant his first lesson on the finer points of wood splitting. 

 

 Tate wanted to give wood splitting a try as well.  After swinging the maul a few times each, the boys helped gather up the wood and throw it into the back of the pickups.  Then they went back to chasing each other with dirt clods.  Ah, to be a child again!

 Then, of course, they went and dropped off two truck loads of split wood at the home of a single older lady.  When they arrived the lady was floored with gratitude.  She had eaten her breakfast that morning in a 56 degree kitchen without starting a fire because she knew she probably didn't have enough wood to get through the winter.  Needless to say, she was very happy to see us and was near tears with gratitude.  Later Ryan talked to the boys about service.  They understood the significance of what they had done about as well as a 5 and 3 year old are capable of but I hope that experiences like this make them into men who understand that helping those that are weak is part of what makes them strong.

 The kids all spent several hours per day on the trampoline jumping, chasing, and tackling each other.  Luckily, one of Ryan's greatest fears was not realized because no teeth were knocked out in the ensuing melee. (This photo was clearly taken during a lull in the violence.)

 Here's Grant on a tire swing that is hung in a huge willow tree in front of Glade's (Ryan's brother) house. 

 And what Fall get-together would be complete without a leaf pile to jump in?  Ryan's brothers and Tate raked all the leaves into a pile and the kids had a great time jumping in them and being buried. 

 Cousin bonding time on the sled. It was awesome to see what a great time they all had with each other.

 And this is the alarming result when No-Shave November and a sweet case of bed-head collide.  Epic!

It's even better in profile with Ryan jutting his chin out to look like a disgruntled Neanderthal. To the chagrin of some and the delight of others, Ryan shaved his beard off after Thanksgiving.