Fun with friends

This spring has been extrmemly WET!

I bet I said that last spring too...because it was!!!!  Oh well.  We live in the Pacific Northwest and we do get a lot of rain here.  It's not that we love it, because we really do miss the sun at times when the rain has determined to be more consistent that anyone would ever like, but it doesn't do us any good to complain and grumble about it.  I will admit that it's a hard thing to get used to.  Our poor relatives that came and visited for Christmas really got a good dose of the rain.  We tried to stay positive because what else could we do?  But we do understand when people get pretty fed up with the weather!!

Spring break this year was pretty wet.  No surprises there!  When the weather was predicted to be dry with sun-breaks we weren't going to let it go un-used!!  We didn't care that it was going to be cold!!

OUTDOORS with us!!

We walked/rode bikes to the school yard and played on the swings!

The boys then ran out and cleaned up the soccer fields--without me asking!  They were running all over the place!!

Then we met our friends over at the playground.  After getting cold enough there, we headed over to their home to play some more!

The boys were in heaven in their back yard--building forts in their trees, digging in their garden, playing in the sand box.  They even found their first salamandars (or newts as we like to call them) of the season.  They were just little babies!!

Just before we left, we were able to go in and see their baby chickens!  The boys loved holding them and we can't wait to see them when it gets warm enough for them to be outside!

What a great day!  We have missed being outside and look forward to the next time!!

A break in the rain...

This spring break has been, well, wet. 

There has been so much rain that we haven't had many trips outside to play.  It's been a bit of a bummer, but we have found other things that have kept us busy.  We did plan a visit to the Crumb Crunchers on Thursday afternoon and looked forward to not only playing with them, but meeting up with some new friends to play with too.  We were hoping to play outside.

Rain.  More rain.

Then a break in the rain.  Sunshine breaking through...yes!  The two older boys and I headed over while I left our youngest son to finish his nap while The Big Guy Lowe was home.

Glorious outside!  The boys always love playing at the Crumb Crunchers' house and yard.  Truly the perfect yard for children!  We're so glad they invite us to play!!

One cute and fun surprise came as we saw their bunnies running around outside!  The boys spent most of the time trying to locate and catch the bunnies...while not scaring them.  Hmmm.  Not quite sure if we accomplished the absence of fear in those soft, nose-twitching creatures, but they sure were cute!

Our oldest was able to hold one first.  I can't tell if this is Bam-Bam or Pebbles?

To our middle son's great delight, his older brother let him hold a bunny!

Do you remember that I mentioned earlier that new friends would be playing with us this visit?  Here is one of our new friends.  I had to include these pictures because our Big D's expressions/body language. 

What do you think was going through his mind?

I'm just fine with him keeping his distance from girls for many years to come...even if this one is a cutie!

World's coolest mom

I am happy to say that I am friends with the World's Coolest Mom!  Let me explain...

Yesterday was going to be a great day.  Our oldest didn't have school and we were all excited to play like we did throughout the summer.  Don't get us wrong, school is great, but we also love playing together and exploring outside throughout the entire day!  Knowing that we had a free day coming, we planned with our friends the Crumb Crunchers, to share yet another day in the great outdoors.

The Crunchers have one of the greatest yards we know, and with the promise that there were many Praying Mantis to be found in their back field, we didn't hesitate to bring our treats, nets and buckets.  We knew it was going to be a fabulous day!

We were not let down!


While most of the boys were having a great time playing in the sandbox,

...our oldest son was on the hunt!  First a little garter snake was found.
 
Then, the world's coolest mom really started to shine. Knowing the love my oldest has for creatures/critters, she decided to start their riding lawn mower to take a few swipes of the yard to stir things up.  How cool was that?  My oldest son was so excited!



Prepared with net and bug house in hand he diligently followed the mower, looking for whatever might be moving.

When movement was seen in the tall grass, did the world's coolest mom stay on her mower?  NO!  She jumped right off and helped look!

Think that was cool enough?  Not even close.  After their search, she got the 'go-ahead' from me and then let our oldest son drive the mower himself!!!

I don't know how many passes she let him take, but she walked with him all over that back field.  I tried hard to take some pictures of our oldest looking like he was out there by himself--because I knew he would think that was great, but the world's coolest mom was never far.

After mowing awhile, the hunt continued for things.

More snakes, grasshoppers, praying mantis and other insects were captures for observation.

Doesn't this just make your heart sing?  Boys, bug, and snakes.  The only thing that could have made this day better would have been throwing in a trip to the creek!

Thank you, World's coolest mom, for helping us have such a great day! We think you are amazing, and I am grateful that I get to call you my friend.

Oh what do you do in the summer time...

This past week was a scorcher! Multiple days over 100 degrees isn't normal for the pacific northwest, but we made the best of it! Knowing that my brother and his family just moved to Arizona where the temperature has been well over 115 degrees made this week seem like a cool breeze, kind of. But what do we do when it's summer, warm and wonderful outside?? YES! We go to the creek!!

No longer do we go to the newt pond. We decided the last time we were there that if we couldn't see the water because it was completely covered by any type of vegetative growth, it wasn't okay for us to be murking around in it. Boy was I relieved when our oldest agreed without complaint!

With the seasonal change into deep summer, our focus has changed also. We no longer catch newts, er, salamanders, but go for CRAWDADS! The Big Guy Lowe and our oldest son are the hunters!

Our middle son's job was to tend the crawdads without hurting them or letting them go.

He was also our official snail hunter.


Our youngest son was the morale booster when the crawdads were elusive,


the camp manager when food/treats were needed,

and the general overseer of the entire trip.

He did a great job as everyone filled their responsibilities to their fullest!


The hunters caught 9 live crawdads that day (and a few that were not so alive), three fish and more snails than I cared to count!

At the end of our trip, all of them were released back to their homes.


We had to go back soon though to make sure the skills of our oldest son were staying in peak condition. Enter our good friends the Crumb Crunchers! Whenever we are in need of friends, the crunchers come through. Our memories of the creek will always be laced with fun times and this family!

Who wouldn't like a girl that isn't afraid to do more than get a toe wet on a hot day?

Now, this is a picture from a past creek trip, but I just remembered it and had to include it! Friends that can get dirty without hesitation. Dear to our hearts!

Our oldest was grateful for a young apprentice and the chance to have help catching more crawdads. I believe they caught four that day! Plenty of reason for a celebratory swim! Ahhhh summer!