Belleview Park

On Wed. we picked up Gram at DIA! The kids thought we were just going to the airport to look at the planes (an old trick played on me and my siblings when my grandparents made a surprise visit) and lo and behold there was gram standing at the curb- the kids were so surprised! Then we picked up lunch and headed to Belleview Park in Denver. It was a great park- cool playground equipment and a perfect kid stream running through it. In the summer there is a petting zoo and train ride- we will have to go back. The stream alone was worth revisiting! And we had a perfect day- sunny and 74!

Next time- swimsuits or at least shorts. Lexi liked to pick the "lions" (dandelions) and throw them in the stream.

New Neighbors

Rico's not our new neighbor, but he could play catch the frisbee all day. He's pretty good at it too. He has also taken to standing by the slider door to go out and when you open the door he quickly grabs something he knows he should not have, such as a shoe or toy and runs outside waiting for you to come chase him- anything to get someone to come outside and play. Sometimes it's cute, but more often than not it's when I am busy and don't have time for such nonsense and it's not cute.

Our resident monkeys playing in the tree
Our backyard neighbors (Josh's friend who we carpooled with) have moved and they told us the new family had 2 boys about our boys age so when the kids heard kid noises coming from the yard they were interested to get a glimpse of our new neighbors. We also saw a glimse of a brown dog. Fence coming down offers prime peeking opportunities. Not what a homeowner wants to deal with though.

Lexi's gotta do what the brother's do...

We did end up going over to meet them and not just spying through the fence. They have a 5 yr old boy and 4 yr. old boy. My boys have been playing with girls from day one- lots of girl friends (who we love!) and girl neighbors, but it can't hurt for them to have a couple guy friends too! Yay for 2 neighbor BOYS!

Even Rico wants to check it out...

Too Cute

Sunday Drive

Well, it was actually supposed to include a little fishing but we never came across the fishing area that one of Dave's coworkers had told him about. It was beautiful, but 2 hours on a bumpy, windy, dirt road was not something I will rush to do again.

Started with a stop @ castle park in Woodland park
We took the road toward Cripple Creek but then turned off at Victor and took the back route back to the springs

Zachisms 23

As I was on the computer, Zach walks up beside me and says, "I thought you could do it today." Do what, Zach? "Pull up my pants" I then look down to see that after going to the bathroom his pants are still down around his ankles. After I tell him no, he can do it he replies, "but I've done it a lot of days"

He was asking to get on the computer to play games and Dave was telling him he couldn't because mom needed to do something on the computer and then dad needed to do some work on the computer. After a couple seconds Zach says, "I have needs."

He has been quite obsessed with Bakugon lately he asks if he can get Bakugon probably 5 times a day, everyday, he looks for it at every store we go into,... He did find some Bakugon toys at Walgreens the other day. But like I have oh maybe 100 times, I told him no that maybe he will get it for his birthday or something. Next we went to Walmart and we looked in the toy section and they were out of Bakugon so he said, "can we go to the green one?" (WalGREENS)

In one of the Berstain Bears books I have read the kids it talks about the cubs trading places with the parents one day. The other day in the car Zach says, "Can we be the parents today? Please?? I promise we will be good parents." I asked him what good parents would do and he said, "like get Bakugon. But mom, you'll still have to drive us to Walgreens"

He asked me, "when I'm grown up will I have to leave and train on my own?" I told him that he will live with us for quite awhile and we will take care of him and train him and then when he is older he will move and live on his own. Then I hear sniffing and look back to see tears and he says, "But I don't ever want to leave" So of course I told him he could stay and live with us forever if he wanted to. The next night when Dave was putting the boys to bed Zach was telling him that mom had said he could stay forever. Dave asked Josh if he wanted to stay forever and he said, "no, but I'll come visit" Then Zach asked Josh, "will you bring Bakugon? Cause I'm still going to play with toys."

Lexi & Flat Sienna

This is Lexi and flat Sienna. Big smile in the first photo, second photo I tried taking flat Sienna so I could get one of the 3 of them without her, but as you can see Lexi was not happy about that, third photo, she had flat sienna back and was ok again.

Snow? What Snow??

Zach has been asking to play with his favorite little buddy at school for the past couple weeks so today we went to his house and the kids got to swim around in the jacuzzi.

Zach and Tyler

They also fed us lunch, it was a nice play date. So soon after the snow and boots I was not thinking of sunscreen with the swimsuits so we all got a bit of sun today. Another Bee-uu-tiful Colorado day!

A Beautiful Colorado Day

Monday was a day off for Josh so we took a picnic to Memorial Lake- Dave joined us for lunch and the kids and I stayed for another hour enjoying the outdoors. It was nearing 70 degrees (which I swear feels even warmer here- nearer the sun I guess) A far cry from our blizzardy Friday where all kinds of schools, events, etc. were cancelled, no trace of that day left 3 days later. (well, maybe just a trace at the top of Pike's Peak)

water, rocks and sticks can keep kids busy and happy for hours:)

We received 'flat Sienna' in the mail a couple weeks ago so we took her to the park with us and got some photos in front of Pike's Peak with her and then we send her back to California.

Zach found quite a treasure- a duck feather! They always want to keep those nasty things for their 'collection'- gross.

Lexi really liked 'flat Sienna' and held her like a doll.

some excercise equipment that is spaced around the sidewalk that goes around the lake.

Lexi pretty proud that she made it up (with big brother's help)

Isms

We had beef stroganoff the other day and zach said, "no rice for me, just the noff"

Lexi has had a diaper rash lately and when changing her she says, "I need ice cream" which is not strange for her to ask for some sweet treat out of the blue, but in this instance she is referring to the diaper rash cream.

We had a nurse at our house the other day doing a quick medical exam for Dave and myself for life insurance purposes. She was a bit older with gray hair and I could tell Lexi was checking her out. When she was leaving Lexi said, "Bye, Gram!" She thinks that is the general term for all older ladies.

Lexi may be a hairdresser in the making. She likes to grab the pretend fork and spatula from her play kitchen and likes to 'brush' and do my hair with them. It doesn't always feel good, but she's good about telling me it's ok and it won't hurt.

The nursery at church told me she likes to help clean up the toys even if she didn't play with them. She is a "helper"! Thank goodness I finally have a helper around here:)

Lexi's Snow Activities

Well, her everday activites really!

An emptying and reorganizing of Joshua's dresser drawers. (that little green stool in the photo- that is her accomplice in crime- she moves it all over the house to help her reach things she shouldn't)

These photos are a bit hard to see. Believe me they aren't hard to see in person! The above one was trying her hand at drawing on the nice white wall (it was taken after some scrubbing) and the one below is her artwork on the couch cushion.

So today is sunny and in the 50's and starting tomorrow we are heading into quite a few days of NICE! 60's- 70's. I am hoping we are leaving most (or all!) of our snow storms behind us for the season. We shall see.