Libraries, parks and exploring

The girls and I did some exploring earlier this week.
While my last post didn't work (the library video) here's the sweat on my little one's nose that she worked up hip hopping with the rapper about Dr. Seuss.

 

We spent some time going to a couple of different parks. I needed to take some pictures for my business in this one - the girls loved the little wishing well waterfall.

 

 

After several busses and bridges and lots of walking, we finally found this pirate park. We'd heard about it for years, but hadn't ever been able to find it. Unfortunately, it started to rain (more than the previous sprinkling we'd endured) so we had to postpone the rest of our play to another day.

 

Hip Hop at the Library

I'm hoping this video will work. The library had a hip hop artist come to the reading time program. We couldn't understand a word he said and it was SO darn loud - on the flip side, it was oh so fun to watch my kids trying to dance. Check out my little one in the purple on the right hand side:

Diving in

We've been busy with swimming lessons these past couple of weeks. Here's the dive into the deep end! You go girl!

 

 

Girls room

It seems like we've been spring cleaning. Maybe all of our kids' friends have been out of town, but we've been getting a lot done lately. We took all of the books and bookshelves out of the girls' room and moved them downstairs to a reading nook we made. Then we replaced the dresser with something much smaller, and rearranged. The girls couldn't believe how much room they had in their room! While the color is off for some reason, they girls really wanted a picture of their room - here they are!

 

 

And the walls came tumbling down

Here it is - hooray!!
When we bought our house, we weren't thrilled about the view of the school wall which faced our garage. Well, this week we woke up to a tractor running outside and all week long, they've been knocking down the wall in front of our house. No more graffitti magnets! (maybe that's where the kids learned it from?) Anways, we've been thrilled. Our view just got that much better! YAY!

 

Here's the new and improved view that I already love

 

Landscaping

Our HOA forced us to do some landscaping due to some negative drainage on our lot (so they say).
Here's the swell we put in. We cut back and pulled back all of the grass and then dug it out, connecting it to the front yard.

 

Here's our front yard. Yesterday we pulled out all of our rose bushes and some other plants and replaced them with some that we are really excited about. Our neighbor was getting rid of some rocks, so we added them in. We only broke the wagon and the dolly ferrying them over. My husband's artistic side came out as he placed the rocks to his liking.

 

Here are the plants we replaced the roses with. They should flower all summer, and are both white and pink. They are also (supposedly) deer resistant - we'll see.

 

Here's our back area around the sand box. We planted all of the surrounding plants (except the rhubarb). We will cover the remaining dirt with weed mat and mulch.

 

Here's the rest of our back area. Until now, it has been our kid's mud and dirt area. Well, we will be putting in a swath of flowers right above the rocks, and then mulching the rest of the back area around the trees and shrubs. Finally, it may look presentable.

Here's the rock path I was working on right at the gate. We removed the gate part of our fence and will be putting in an arbor and planting clematis all over it.

 

Here's my smashed finger that took me out of commission as I was working on the rock path. While the path looks a little muddy, we will be re-tackling it soon.

 

 

The Game

Last week my husband had to travel to Denver for work. We went with him and after wards we went to a Denver Rockies game. Here are some of our pics.
My man

 

Our daughter

 

Our daughter

 

Me and my baby

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, we must have been the bad luck, as it was our first game. They lost their first game in an 11 game winning streak (and have won every one since this particular game.)
We got stuck in traffic that night due to a diesel that caught on fire and didn't make it home until 3:00 am. It was a very long night, exacerbated by my student showing up for her lesson at 7:45 am and swim lessons right afterward. We had a great time regardless.

Memorial Day in Moab

Over Memorial Day weekend, we traveled to Moab and met my husband's family for a family reunion. Our friend Frank also met us there (he's family to us) and we enjoyed spending a little bit of time with him as well.
We went to Monticello to the temple, and then to the Hole in the Wall where we saw some really cool things which had been welded together - like this jeep. Check out the wheels - they are completely welded together with scissors, tools, etc.

 

 

We love Arches National park and spend a couple of days (minimum) there every year. Following are a few photos from our stay.

 

 

Kids and flowers in Arches

Here are a couple of photos of our kids in Arches.

 

Here's the Utah State Flower - the sego lily

 

Our flowers:

 

 

A few more in Arches

It was overcast while we were there, and stormy in the evenings. We loved watching the storms come racing across the skies.

 

Here's our little graffitti artist posing with her defacement of federal/public property - we weren't as happy about her artwork as she was.

 

Here's a really cool tree with the arches in the background. We loved being there in the springtime as we were able to see all of the flowers and cacti in bloom - something you don't see very often in the desert - flowers.

 

Quilt and Dead Horse Point

We celebrated grandma's birthday while we were all there together and had a big surprise party. Earlier in the year, all of the grandkids sent me blocks which they'd drawn on and I put them together into this birthday quilt for grandma.

 

 

Just before heading home, we stopped at Dead Horse Point. While we'd been there camping, we'd been rained on every night (one night for the entire time!) I'd been fighting a cold and was fighting a fever. While the views were great, I wasn't very appreciative as I couldn't wait to get home to my bed.