Annoying Neighbor

This young woman has set up residence at the back of our property.  Not only is she destroying our rock wall by expanding her home but she is RAISING HER FAMILY there as well!  We have 4 groundhogs living in our yard.  Heaven help our garden this year!  As Disco contemplates his assault on our furry neighbors I hear the voice of Kenny Loggins singing "I'm alright, nobody worry 'bout me. Why you got to gimme a fight? Can't you just let it be?"

Hiking

It rained and rained and rained a couple of weeks ago.  So we packed ourselves up in the car last Saturday, February 4th and headed out to see a waterfall.  Disco took some great pics of the kids and they had a BLAST exploring caves and crevices and nature in general. We saw the waterfall from afar but the focus ended up being exploring the area.  Little man would have lived in those woods and caves if he could.  Big sis liked it all but there were moments when she was just ready to pack up and go home.  Overall, though, I think she really enjoyed exploring. 

I actually took the first shot of little man.  Every once in a while I take a picture I'm really proud of - this is one of them.  :)

New Year's Hike

Our dog Maggie was incredibly sick New Year's Eve.  Because the holiday fell on a weekend and some of her symptoms were familiar to us, we decided to wait until we could take her to our vet on Monday Jan 2nd.  She is doing better - but continues to suffer from a common inner ear issue that occurs in "senior" dogs.  Basically she experiences a horrible case of vertigo.  Our wonderful vet loaded her up with medicine and gave us the run down of what to expect.  Recovery will be slow but she is making progress.

We planned to start off New Year's Day with a hiking trip but we didn't feel comfortable leaving the house while Maggie was so sick.  After being loaded up with meds from the vet she seemed to be resting more comfortably.  So we ventured out to a hiking trail not too far from home the day after New Year's.

One of the family activities I hope to "leap" into this year is exploring the outdoors more often.  Disco has a new book for family friendly trails and we are ready to do some hiking! :)

Lilacs and Butterflies

While I was traveling last week my "heirloom" lilacs were in full bloom with over 30 blooms.  Our lilac bush is a plant my grandparents had originally transplanted from my grandfather's family homestead.   I transplanted a portion of their lilac bush in 2000, the year my grandmother passed away. We had it in our yard for 6 years before it finally bloomed.  In 2006 we lost my grandpa in January, big sis was born about one month later, and the lilac bloomed one month after her birth.  The first year it bloomed there were exactly two clusters of flowers on the plant.  For me, that was a sign that my grandparents were "blessing" our new daughter.  Maybe you don't believe in angels and the signs they leave all around us but I sure do!

Anyway, it was a hard week being away from family last week.  So when Disco posted pictures of the lilacs and butterflies on facebook it made me smile.  The scent, color, and delicate bunches of flowers will always remind me of family.

Rocket Slide!

Disco finished the slide/clubhouse today.  Everyone was so excited!  Now "finished" is a relative term - please don't be alarmed by any safety issues you observe.  Disco is still getting everything in place.  But once the kiddos saw the ladder was finished and an attached slide there was NO STOPPING them!  It's gonna be a fun weekend outside - the weather is beautiful already.  Yay fall!

Weekend

This weekend was filled with painting, a picnic in the living room, the zoo, and hiking at the Delta Rivers Nature Center. The Delta Rivers Nature Center was pretty cool for our kiddos because the trail was paved and there were lots of spots to stop and observe the turtles (the only wildlife that didn't flee from stomping feet!). Our kiddos pretty much just ran at top speed or pushed the strollers around - fun for the toddler/preK crowd! The actual center was small but filled with things like animals, cotton, cypress knees, an airplane, cotton, and FISH. Highly recommend this area for those non-mosquito times of the year b/c standing water everywhere.


I will post pictures of our painting adventure later this week . . . for now just a short clip of the crew pushing strollers along the trail. :)

Happy Hiking New Year

Disco loves the outdoors (as do I). So today he began by saying "when little man gets older I would like to get out and hike on the weekends" and I replied "why not now?". We tried hiking a few times with big sis when she was a baby. It wasn't pretty! She was always grumpy about 50 feet into the hike. Apparently not much has changed - true to form she was wanting "up baby" about 50 feet into the trail. And in her defense it was a much harder hike for a 2 year old (leaves and big rocks cluttering the trail). So both of us were hauling kiddos rather than switching the baby bjorn back and forth.

A quick smile from Disco AND big sis

Here is your walking stick little man!

Little man just hung out as usual - laughing at big sis and taking in the scenery. I don't know if our crazy lives will allow much time for future hikes. But I hope so - we had fun during our 25 minutes on the trail (baby steps!). Of course both kiddos enjoyed adding to the "scat" we found in the woods. Big sis informed us that "this (pointing to the entire wooded area) is the hiking potty!" Thankfully Disco is a responsible hiker and we left no trace of our adventure.

Let's go camping . . .

We all know Disco really enjoys the outdoors - he went hiking and took some nature pics on Saturday. Unfortunately it was a bit of a trip for little man and way too cold. But he wore his "Let's go Camping" onesie just the same. Some day soon I hope we can all get out to the woods again!