The Bigger Picture

I mentioned way back in my September and November Photo Re-Cap posts the big project that David had been working on for the kids. The project was completed in November but to this day I had never even taken pictures of the whole thing. So without further ado here is the whole thing, designed and built one step at a time by my amazing, talented, loving husband (with a little help from my own dear Dad too).

The kids absolutely love it and use it almost every day. Between the swings, the sandbox, the upper deck & bridge (which is often used as a spaceship, pirate ship, picnic area, or class room), the ball chute, the movable stepping stone path (made from slices of the pine Dad helped us cut down), the occasional visiting lizard or interesting bug... There is always something fun. I think they are incredibly lucky kids to have a Dad who would build such an awesome play place for them!

By the way, I never really know what to call this thing.. playhouse, treehouse, swingset?? Any ideas?

Also, I'm not sure why but our dog insisted on standing in front of me for every picture. I took the top picture 4 times before he moved out of the way.

Duck Derby

They have been advertising since February that our city was hosting its first-ever Duck Derby. I remember my hometown of Fairbanks dropping ducks in the river every year but I don't recall ever attending. It seemed like a fun event for the kids so even though we also had a yard sale and soccer today, we also attended the duck derby. It was definitely a fun time. There was live music, all the usual festival activities (face paint, bounce houses, wagon rides...), and of course the big duck drop. One of the other highlights for my kids was getting to hold real live snakes! Including a huge boa(?) that they said was "soooo heavy!"

15 of 52

Sorry there just wasn't a very flattering way to take this picture. This is what I get for being a nature lover and tromping around in the woods geocaching...

I'm assuming Poison Oak. I am treating it with Tecnu but it has been lingering. The original spot was on my other ankle but it spread. Growing up in Alaska I have no knowledge of poisonous plants, or snakes, or scorpions, or killer spiders for that matter. So I certainly have "learned something new" this past week. And yes, thankfully it is only on me and not the kids.

How I Feel

Been in a fog of seasonal allergy misery lately. Haven't been to the doc this season so I'm probably not taking enough of or the right combo of pharmaceuticals to treat it. Just wanted to let my loyal readers know why the posts were coming in slow and lackluster these days.

Did a search on Photobucket for "allergies" and this came up, pretty good representation of how I feel lately. I'm sure you'd be surprised to know that despite the misery, Spring is actually my favorite season and I love seeing all the new leaf buds and wildflowers everywhere and I spend at least some part of every day outside "enjoying" it.

12 of 52 & 13 of 52

Last week my friend Maria took pictures of me on my frog-catching quest. That was a really fun day! If you missed it you can see the kids enjoying the adventure here.


This week we had an Easter storytime with a little parade and egg hunt, they had us wear or "Sunday Best" so I actually got dressed up and both kids told me I looked "pretty" awww. Although its been nice and sunny all week it has also been awfully windy so went for and indoor lunch/playdate at the good ol' Chic-Fil-a afterwards. They have such great service... Cali knocked down one of the kid meals and all the fries fell on the floor, before I even got it picked up a guy came over to help clean it and said they were already working on replacing it... all we needed was new fries but they gave us a complete new meal, toy and all.

Funny thing about this picture... you notice her poking her ear? She was telling me it "itched". Well, after nap she had a fever so I called the doc and went in this morning to find out she has a double ear infection. She says it doesn't even hurt!

Geocaching

This was our very first geocaching adventure. We were too excited once we got our GPS to wait for Daddy, but now we are excited to have him join us soon! It is amazing how many geocaches are all around us, even at our favorite parks, which is where we headed first. We found 3 of 3 on our first trek. Everything I know, I learned from geocaching.com.

Cache #1


Cache #2Cache #3

Frogs & Pollywogs

We spent the morning with nets and buckets in hand chasing little critters at a secret little pond our friend Maria shared with us. It was a beautiful day for it.

At the Lake

One of our favorite places flooded a few summers ago and just now re-opened. I had been waiting for a nice day to take the kids out there to picnic and explore. Well, I thought it was going to be a nice day just like it had been all week but unfortunately the wind kicked up and the clouds rolled in and it was not the day I had been hoping for. We ate a quick picnic as the wind blew relentlessly in our faces (and even tried to pick up our empty plastic plates) then promptly headed back to the car. Later in the evening the wind had died down and the temp had come up so we went back for the exploring part. We even found a nice green Frisbee to play catch with and spotted the resident herd of deer on the way out.

More from Snow Day

The original "Snow Day" post was just our excitement over the snow that started falling around 8am. Here is more from our fun, snowy day. We had huge, fluffy flakes falling all day long!

This was on a Tuesday and by Wednesday afternoon there was nothing but melting blobs of snowmen left. Today (Saturday) was sunny and mid-60s.

Snow Day!!

Remember our beautiful, sunny Sunday?... they really weren't kidding about the winter storm warning! This was all before 9am.

I debated whether to take Cali to school and glad I decided not too, not just for the road conditions but so she could enjoy it and play with us in it too!