Owl Update

We haven't posted about the owls since last week and they've changed a lot. They are really turning brown now. Finally, some color! They are so much more active lately. They stick their heads close to the opening to see us now. I wish they could stay forever, they're like our little family pets! Here's one little guy looking out to say, "hello"!

This little guy was so adorable. It kept leaning farther and farther over to get a look at me. It's sibling (on the right) finally got annoyed and flapped its wing to have him move over.

This one must be the boss, because he wasn't camera shy at all. He pushed the others out of the way, maybe for protection, but I think he totally wants the spotlight all to himself.

These last few photos were taken about 1 hr after the first. Partially because the evening light was better and partially because she was totally hamming it up for me. She came really close to the front of the house. She even played with me. When I leaned my head she leaned hers. When I leaned my body out of her sight, she leaned the opposite direction so she could see me and vice verse, total copycat! It was really fun. I'm going to miss these 3 babies when they leave.
I feel like we are bonding here!

We Went Walking

This morning it was very gray outside and we were bored. We couldn't find anything to satisfy us indoors, so we put on our boots and went outdoors for a nature walk. First we headed to our garden to see the progress. We didn't spy any plants yet, instead we found about 20 of these...

After we got our fill of snails, we went to check the progress of our fruit trees. We hadn't been back to see them in a few weeks, in fact we'd forgotten about them because we've been so busy! We were super surprised to see how big the fruits were getting! Emry wanted to pick all the apples now, but decided to wait after she'd tried one. They are about 3 inches long already! So exciting! We also saw what will be peaches and apricots. Unfortunately the plum tree doesn't have very much fruit growing on it. They're still small, so we'll check again in a few weeks to see if we can find more.

The girls were being so cute on our walk. Emry was being a great big sister. She'd hold Carley's hand and help her out. They even shared the fruit they'd collected. Sisters are so awesome!

A little farther down the path we found these fire ants! They didn't seen to mind that we were watching them, they couldn't have cared less. Emry was very concerned because she knows they bite, but soon realized that they weren't paying any attention to her and calmed down.

Carley picked up this avocado on our walk, and carried it all the way home, uphill.
I was a proud mama. She's getting to be a big girl too fast.

Here's a cool shot. The ladybug's not in the best focus, but it turned out so neat anyway.
I really like it.

We always have to wave to our musical neighbor across the fence. My kids talk about him as if we're on a first name basis. He's known as Jason around here. Too bad we've never met him.

It wouldn't be a complete walk around the grove without a quick stop
at the gravel pile...what's left of it anyhow.

Finally, we picked some of these to put into a vase on the kitchen windowsill.

When we got back to the house, Little miss Cece was completely trashed!
She'd walked her little heart out and now it was time for her to have a snooze...Nite Nite!

Happy Birthday Trent!

Today we celebrated Trent's 33rd birthday. We ate dinner out at a Mexican restaurant, Trent's favorite, and then went home to sing and enjoy yummy custard. The kids and I gave Trent the coolest coupon book ever! I got a kick out of the type of coupons the kids gave him. For example, Luke gave him a trip to the skate park (which really means "Dad, take me to the skate park so you can sit and watch me"), Emry's best coupon was A FREE fishing day with the family (something tells me that he'd better redeem this on a day when he has no plans to catch ANY fish). They were so cute trying to come up with ideas for things to do, it really was sweet. Anyway, the coupon book turned out great and Trent enjoyed it. After that Trent was supposed to be gone to a church meeting the rest of the night, but it got cancelled just as he was walking out the door. So we put the kids to bed a little early, snuggled up on the couch and put in a movie. Happy Birthday TP!

Spring Break '09 - Saturday

Today is our last official day of Spring Break. It's bittersweet for me. I was a little nervous and was feeling pressure to keep everyone entertained when our travel plans kept falling through. But I am reporting that we had a super spring break. It was so nice to have Trent around just to be around. We didn't have a long car ride ahead of us, no pager going off or any plans set in stone. Our goal was to do a little bit of work and something fun each day, and that's just what we did!

Today was no different. We slept in and lounged around the house into the late morning. Then Trent made us all sandwiches for lunch and we piled into the car to go to Luke's baseball game. During the game, the girls ran around and played in the sunshine while Trent and I watched Luke play, it was relaxing and great! After the game we headed over to home depot and purchased a swing to hang in our front yard. Trent and his crew hung it up in no time and we haven't seen much of them [the crew] since.

Here's an updated pic of our owls. They're getting really big! That white thing hanging down is a bee's nest. They've been swarming all around the owl house for days. We think Mama must have laid down the law or something because this morning they are gone.

Spring Break '09 - Friday

This morning we planted our garden! After a wonderful breakfast of pancakes Trent headed outside to get the ground tilled up. We don't have a rototiller, so Trent did it by hand with this garden hoe that we found in the garage. What a guy!


Next, we enlisted the help of our fellow gardeners, Luke & Emry. Carley was in charge of, "seed control" aka...holding the UNOPENED bags of seeds. I showed the big kids where to put the seeds and they had fun counting out the appropriate number and dropping them into the holes. Trent followed behind us and covered them up. The kids planted the seeds, pounded some stakes into the ground and then we made cute little labels to tell us what we planted in each row. It was a great family activity and so much fun!


Here's what we planted: carrots, green beans, yellow beans, red cherry tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, pumpkins, zucchini and cucumbers. I'm not sure that we'll be seeing any carrots because Emry opened the package when no one was looking and by the time I got to her, most of the seeds were gone. So, we might end up with carrots sprouting up in the yard, time will tell. We planted a few pumpkins now to see if they'll work. If so, we will plant more later in the summer so they'll be ready for Halloween.

Now we're just watering and waiting. This is our first attempt at having a garden, so we'll see how it goes. I'm already dreading the weeds, but it must be done. I just hope we have something sprout so the kids will get excited and be able to feel proud when we eat what we've grown.

Spring Break '09 - Thursday

Today we are having a work day. Here is our to do list:

• unpack the car
• wash laundry
• dry laundry
• fold laundry
• put away laundry
• pick more oranges
• sweep and vacuum up sand from our trip to the beach (that's now all over my house)
• relax
• go to the park
  

Spring Break '09 - Wednesday

Today we go up and had a leisurely breakfast. Went for a walk on the beach, and enjoyed the early morning together. Then we packed the kids into the car and headed over to Sea World!
We hadn't been since we first moved here, so it was time to go again.
We had a great time seeing all the shows and animals, especially Shamu!

Spring Break '09 - Tuesday

This morning we checked odd jobs off our household to do list and started harvesting the last of our oranges.

Trent manned the ladder and the kids caught the fruit! They started catching with bare hands, but then decided to get the baseball gloves out...good idea!

After Carley's nap, we climbed into the car and headed down to San Diego to say on the beach at the Navy's North Island Lodge. The kids were so excited to be staying at a hotel they could hardly contain themselves! Our room was nice and right on the beach. Luke & Emry headed straight out to play. We tried to go for a walk, but the weather wasn't the greatest. It was super windy and freezing cold and it started to sprinkle, so we didn't last too long.

We didn't get to swim in the ocean since the weather turned south on us,
so we did the next best thing....turned on the tub!

After everyone had warmed up we ate dinner and did a little bit of this....

About half way thru, Luke decided he was brave enough to bowl without the ramp. He did a good job. I'm not sure he's ready to give up those bumpers, not quite yet.

A little celebration after the only strike of the night!

Even Carley totally got into it, she'd give the ball a push down the ramp and yell, "GO!".

Thank goodness for the ramp to keep Emry focused because otherwise she'd have been throwing her ball down our neighbors lane or running down the lane to touch one of the pins!

Everyone had a really great time.
Emry kept saying she loved everything. Mom, "I love our hotel room." Dad, "I love bowling." Dad, "I love the beach." "This is the best day ever!"