Kite Flying Gas Works Park.... Attempted

So, today is Memorial Day, and daddy is off. We think it would be a great day to venture into the city. We load up on snacks like apples and kettle corn and go to a park called "Gas Works Park in an attempt to fly kites. We have flown kites before, with success. We even got a bigger one for little man so that it will catch more wind. Of course, it had Optimus Prime on it. Transformers all the way, Baby. Esther's is a more generic ladybug, however it can and does get some height on it. Problem. Today there wasn't much wind. After both Daddy and Mommy attempt to get them skyborn, they fell. They stayed up for all of five minutes after we fought to get them up there, then the wind died. It was still a great day though to hang out, got a lot of sun. Both little man and girlie pants are starting to look a little tan. Thankfully, we passed on some genes that allow them to resist sunburn. Here is Daddy trying to get the ladybug kite airborne.
Some more photos. Daddy took the one with little man sitting on a hill. I think it's a great shot. Here is us, little man took the photo as well as a picture of why it is called "GAS WORK" Park. In the distance, you can see the smoke stack. This is a great park. Hubby likes it too because of all the yachts we can see from the hill. There was one that passed by that apparently had a party on board because we could hear the music from where we were up on the hill. There were quite a few people, lots of dogs, runners, a few younger people playing football, and many others attempting kite flying as well. All in all, a good morning.

Shaping up

Finally decided to warm up here. We are starting to have blooming stuff in our yard. Here are some iris. Funny story. The first time we got blooms off of the iris (which I got from my sister in law), I only had dark purple flowers. Second time around, a renegade yellow one appeared. This year, there is one that is two-toned. Purple and white. I wish you could see the colors up close. Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of fancy camera. Some other flowers that are blooming include a columbine, also known as a granny's bonnet. I didn't have any forethought. It's smooshed between iris. Going to have to move it later. The lilac bush, which I whacked the dickens out of this past fall, is blooming too. There is also a weirdly placed wisteria. It's next to the power pole and always climbs up it. Which is, in my opinion, a fire hazard as well as inconvenient for maintenance people. I wish it was transplant able. It's too big and old though, so I just whack what climbs up the pole.

The part that was really a lot of work is the vegetable and herb corner. NOW there was some major work. I mentioned it before, but here is a rundown of what I have. Herbs: 2 types of basil (green and purple), 2 types of mint (pineapple and apple), chives, cilantro, lemon balm. Vegetables: Corn, pumpkins, 3 kinds of green beans, zucchini, heriloom tomatoes, onions. There is also some sunflowers that my sister in law gave me as well. Hopefully, they thrive and I will have veggies in a few months.

Planting

So, the big plan is to grow vegetables. Cleaned out corner of the yard. Took a bit of digging, mostly by hubby. I weeded and degrassed and worked in I think 50 lbs of steer manure. If all goes well, in a few months I will have corn, zucchini, tomatoes, beans, sweet pumpkin as well as a few herbs. Here is hoping my thumb is green enough to plant from seeds rather than seedlings like what I did in prior year.

Easter photo...

Just a quick photo of the kids taken yesterday, since I haven't posted in awhile and people haven't seen recent photo of little man.

Long time no post, first day school!

So, as most of you know, I have been home schooling our son for the past 2 years. Well, it came to light that our girlie pants needs a little help. Physically, she is 5 and a half, cognitively, 3. She is also needing a bit of speech therapy. So today, was her first day of school. *sob* Since we needed to do this, decided to start little man (who is 7) this coming fall too. Funny thing is, it's a bit backwards, we thought we would be sticking our son in school first. He was a bit confused to why his isn't starting until September. Here she is, first day. No, no separation problem. Told her time to go with the teacher, she barely looks at me, grabs the teacher's hand, waves and says, "Bye, bye, Mommy!".

Birthday Boy and Dirt

My little man recently turned seven years old. SEVEN! So, we asked a few boys from our neighborhood as well as a friend from church to have some fun at an arcade/pizza place for a get together. After exhausting quarters we had pizza and soda and dessert, opened presents and then capped it off with a round of bumper cars with the parents included. I think the parents screamed louder than the kids.













I was not really in the mood to actually bake a big ole fancy cake for our son's birthday. So, what do I do? Throw some oreos and other shudderingly sweet ingredients together for TA-DA! Dirt cake. It was a big hit with the kids and the parents as well. Who says kids are the only ones who can enjoy a sugar high? When I was making it, got comments like, "Why are you putting coffee (he meant it looked like coffee grounds) in my cake?" And also the, "Why are you putting it in the fridge and not the oven?" He got kicked out of the kitchen after a whole bunch more questions so I could finish in peace.

Next....

Well, this month is just chock full of birthdays. Recently, our former babysitter, girl on far left, just turned 19. She used to watch our kids, the boy in the red coat and girl in turquoise top. Now that she is older and has a steady job, watching our kids has passed to her sister, girl on far right. The big young man in the center just had his birthday in January turned 15, and his brother next to him also just recently had a birthday this February. Time just flies.

Happy New Year and Stuff

We got both kids scooters for Christmas, among other things, but yesterday was the first time we could take them out due to the snow. We had them in the front of our house for a little bit, but it was a bit sloped in areas, making it difficult for the little man to get the hang of it. Girlie has 3 wheels, so it wasn't that big of a deal in terms of balancing, if she would only learn how to steer it would be all good.














Since it was hard for them to get a handle on balancing on sloped pavement, we took them to our church parking lot. Which, you can see, still has piles of snow left over. Scootering took a back seat to climbing the last vestiges of the previous snow storm. This is all that was left of THAT. This was our little path from the front door to our cars from last week. Yes, more than a foot.

Sledding

It's still snowy. Snowed last night, yet again. Hubby supposedly was going to work today, he could not even make it out of the driveway. So, instead, we sledded down a street in our area.

Let it snow, let it snow... okay, you can stop now....

Well, it's been snowing the past few days. And I do mean snowing. Thankfully, hubby has this week off, so we kick the kids outside to play. Snow in this area is a tad bit unusual, only a few days out of the year, actually. We are at the end of a little culdesac, so there is quite a bit of space for the kids to run around in without threat of cars from the main road. One of our neighbors even has a tiny hill to slide down. Our kids are experiencing quite a different climate than where their parents grew up in tropical weather.