Hogle Zoo

Everyone knows we are animal people so its only natural to go see the zoo. The kids loved the zoo! We started at the kids playground and then took the train followed by seeing the actual animals. We had a blast. It was freezing cold and windy and the kids were vibrant and all over the place. We finished up passing the white crocodile and the kids just wanted to sit in there for the longest time. It was 80 degrees inside so its no wonder. Love the zoo!

Puzzles

Zach was having a bit of a rough time adjusting to all the change and activity around him. One of his biggest "calmers" are puzzles. I went out to the store one day searching for one and got him this one. There was expressions of concern due to the size of the puzzle (550 piece) but he did pretty good. It was a Greg Olsen picture of the little boy putting animals into the ark. We would get about 1/4 of it done before it became a game for the two monkeys to take it apart. We would start over but after the 3rd time of destruction we opted to get a smaller puzzle. We found some cool ones (and inexpensive) at the zoo of different animals. We now have sharks, jellyfish and tigers. Now that we are home Zach has begun working on it again. Good luck Zachers!

A Snowy Welcome

Just when I thought I was enjoying the cool temperature of 80 degress at home I was reminded of what cold really is. Can you believe they had snow in April? It should be spring time and nice and beautiful. (I did get to have hot cocoa every morning though) So the kids decided they wanted to play in the snow. We spent about 30 minutes outside before they had had enough. We had fun making snow angels and throwing snowballs. They were throwing it, trying to bury eachother and eating it. And yes...we did check for yellow snow before we put it in our mouths.

its called procrastination

So yes I have been home for a week now and I haven't shared any stories or pictures of our time away. I have kind of gotten into this funk of anonymity. I loved being gone and living a life away from life. No I am not going unibomber on you but its been nice being hidden. I loved being with family and I am thankful beyond anything I could express that I was able to be with them so much. Now that I am home I want change. I love sitting at home, playing with the kids and taking care of things. I love trying to dance as I wash dishes and having the kids ask me whats wrong, singing while I cook or sneaking away to my corner and just watching the action around me. I want to keep that as my focus instead of some of the other things that have blocked my view. I am thankful to all of you who have helped me along my way and shown me what is worth the effort and what is sometimes better left alone. So as I journey to what may be unknown or possibly revisited I look forward to the fun times and hope you can enjoy some of the great action!

oops...

I thought I was going to be this great blogger while I was gone with posting pictures and stories and all BUT I didn't think to bring a usb cable with me or the disk to run my camera on the computer. I guess I could give great narration and then add the pictures later but what fun would that be for you, the reader. So alas I have decided to do a giant update when I get home. That way it will be complete. We are having a great time. Greg is always busy with school and he is doing wonderfully with it. His lowest score on any test he has taken so far has been a 97. We are very excited for it to all be over but we have one more week to go. I have been having a great time galavanting all over the city with the kids. It has been lots of fun visiting with family and I am very excited to see everyone this week. I hope everyone is doing great. I will post again soon. Mo--we would love to have you here!