An Early Easter

Over the weekend, Brittany and Joey visited us. We were able to celebrate a little bit of Easter with them for the first time.

It was Ben's first hunt and he wasn't really sure what he was doing. We put out some really easy ones for him.

These guys are pros.

A rite of passage is when the kids don't need you to play a card game. Slap Jack is pretty fun!

It was a short one-night visit as Brittany and Joey were on their was to see Dodgers spring training in Arizona!

The Living Desert...again

We love The Living Desert and usually go there at least once a year.



It has been really hot here in La Quinta so this time we bought tram tickets and rode to where we wanted to go.  The tram was the highlight of the trip!

We fed the giraffes some delicious carrots. 

Anna asked why their tongues were gray and she got an answer! It keeps them from getting sunburned since they are sticking them out all the time.

The petting zoo was full of goats that the girls got to comb.

We enjoyed the reptile show.

I let the girls go on the camel by themselves this year. So grown up!

Anna was SOO proud of herself that she didn't run screaming from the Easter Bunny. She has come a long way!

We rode the tram around the zoo just for fun, stopping for a ride on the merry go round.

This is a great place to visit, but next time we will wait for a cooler day.

Before We Left

We are in La Quinta right now. Before we left, we discovered this park that is much closer to our house than the one we usually go to. It's amazing that we didn't noticed it in the three years we have lived here!

This may be why...




This nice winding sidewalk takes you down down down to the park. So the park is really not visible from the street. Of course, this is one of the kids' favorite parts of the park!

While we were there, the kids kept telling me that we had been there before. I kept telling them we hadn't. Mia said, "It feels like we've been here."

When we got back home I told Dan all about it. "Oh yeah," he says. "I took the kids there last year with the neighbors." Oy vey.

Last year Anna really wanted to ride her bike without training wheels. We took them off and she tried and tried but couldn't do it. She just wasn't ready. Fast forward one year. We took them off again. At the high school track, she had one push and she rode almost all the way across the field. What a difference a year makes! And a child's development!

It was spring-like when I left Colorado on Tuesday. Now it's snowing. Sorry to have missed it...not.

Spring Time

The day after Paige's birthday we were still in Seattle until the afternoon, but Dan wasn't feeling well. The girls and I decided when in Seattle, do like the Seattleites. So we walked in a light rain to Whole Foods and bought food for the plane trip.

It was actually exhilarating!

When we got back the home the weather was spring-like. We went on our first hike of the season with Charlie.

This creek is very close to us and hardly anyone knows about it. So we were surprised that someone had built a fort since we were here last in the fall.

Mia pulled one of the boards off and tried to "surf" with it in the creek. She fell in.  End of hike.

Paige's First Birthday

Last weekend we flew to Seattle for Paige's first birthday!  So far we have been able to attend all the grandkid's first birthdays and if we are blessed with any more we hope we can continue the tradition!


Paige is a tiny little one and her nickname "Peanut" fits her perfectly. She is in constant motion and does not sleep very well, but she is almost always in a good mood.



We enjoyed a Mexican buffet with a theme of "rainbow".

Poor Alfred did not get an invite to the party.

Greg's brother, Mike, and his new wife, Kelly, were able to come all the way from New York. We haven't seen Mike since Beth and Greg's wedding and it was our first time meeting Kelly. She was great.

Margaritas need no introduction.

Grandma Berta was there! Greg's dad and his girlfriend also attended, but I didn't get a picture of them. It was so good to catch up with everyone.

Beth was not going to feed Paige cake originally, but gave in and made her a grainless cake. It didn't really matter because Paige only at the blueberries off the top anyway!

As you can see Ben was there too, along with his parents and big sis!

All the kids played with the one year old's toys. Why not!

Happy Birthday to Beth's mini-me!