Such A Nice Day...

My mom had some free time, so we met up with her for lunch, a trip to the park, and some crazy good frozen yogurt! 

 The kids loved the waterfall:

 We hadn't been to this park since Seth was a baby:

 Mom and I actually got to sit and talk while the kids played:

 It helps to have someone big enough to chase Miah!

 Mmmm...  Fro-Yo...  We'll have to come back here again:

One of the best things about coming "home" is that we're close to grandparents now!  I love that my kids get to make memories with them during this stage of life!

L.

There's Just Something About...

... that first Spring day at the park.

Can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be...

L.

Dinosaur Camp, Day 5...

We made it to the end of the week!  The truth is, my favorite part of the day was when Seth and Grace came busting through the back door and talked, non-stop, about camp until the only thing left to do was watch the camp highlights video!  I love how much they love camp.  I also love how good it feels to have them home again!

But before they came home, there was much left to do in the realm of the dinosaurs!

So... last week I cleaned out the school/art closet.  You would not believe the treasures I found buried in there!  Among them was an unopened package of face paint in a variety of colors.  Who knows how old it was, but I thought I'd better give it a try.  May I present the cutest dinosaurs ever:

M-Rex:

Triantops:

Tricurlytops:

Oh, come now...

This is the face you would make, too...

If you were about to be attacked by three roaring dinosaurs:

I proceeded to pack a dinosaur picnic (boiled dinosaur eggs, Jell-O dinosaur eggs, dinosaur fruit snacks, dinosaur PBJ, if you've been reading, this week, you get the picture) and to load my little monsters in the van for a trip to "Dinosaur Park"!  We have not been there in years.  It is dirty, and sometimes the inhabitants border on creepy.  But... you know... it has dinosaurs!  We invited friends (I hope that doesn't immediately put me on the bad friend list - I promise we'll invite them to a cleaner park next time) and had a ton of fun!

Picnic Time:

 

Riding Tyrannosaurus Rex:

Oh look!  Another one of our kind:

Loving on the Brontosaurus:

"Mom!  Take a picture!"

This "baby" still loves to swing...

I'm going to hang onto that for as long as I can:

After a couple of hours of melting in the sun, I let the kids sit on the couch sipping water and watching more from "The Land Before Time" series until their eyes glazed over.

I did manage to hang much (although not quite all) of our dinosaur drawings from the week:

It's been fun.  I think maybe next summer we'll try pirate camp...

L.

Vacationing Close To Home, Part 2...

"Trication": A combination between a trip and a vacation. This particular one involves three parts and includes using our house as a hotel between trips.

Sometimes simple stuff is the most fun...

Originally, we had a semi-expensive, flashy day planned for today. We scrapped that this morning and decided to spend the day at a park in Lafayette. What a great idea! We started out with a picnic and then proceeded to play on a massive playground (divided by appropriate age groups, but we just worked our way around the whole thing) and explore a small zoo (two days in a row for zoos, not bad).

Things I liked best about today: Seth and Grace finally learned to pump. Ian's belly laugh every time we pushed him on the swing. The nice older lady who offered to take a picture of our whole family. Watching my kids climb a tree for the first time. Miah's great big eyes every time she woke up in the baby wrap and looked up at me. Caleb and Phil popping up in the Prairie Dog tunnels with outrageously silly faces. Wallabies. Chick-Fil-A. Blizzards at DQ.

Things I didn't like so much about today: Caleb skinning both knees and one elbow and finding that our first aid kit contained one band-aid. Ian's disdain of public restrooms and therefore his need for several clothes changes (Though it was pretty funny when he told us all to plug our noses but that he wouldn't plug his, since he was the one who pooped!). Miah's sad little look that says, "Please, Mommy, don't ever strap me in that car seat again," and knowing I'm going to do it tomorrow. Unavoidable animals on the road. Crazy wind.

With a family our size, every day is going to have some good stuff and some not so good stuff. But we're trying to make memories... and we're doing a pretty decent job of it, if I do say so myself! We're also making lots of laundry... especially thanks to the ice cream!

Lisa