Giant marshmallows & the Moon

Tonight the kids roasted giant marshmallows that we found at a local store

here. They thought it was cool, but prefer the regular sized ones. We also

brought out the telescope and looked at the moon, and took some pictures.

I just love looking at the moon and all the little details. It an amazing thing

to see.

Swim Lessons & Free Lunch

Today was the last day of swimming lessons for the kids.
They have enjoyed it even though they were not feeling
good the first week. Everyday after lessons we walk over
to the park and the kids enjoy a free lunch. After they
eat, we sit and relax under a shade tree and let the kids
play for awhile. We'll still go get a free lunch till
summer is over, the food is good and free is even better!

New Mexico Beach

So, we've been going to the Alameda open space lately, which is located

on the Rio Grande river. There is a small beach area that the kids can play

in the sand. The kids asked if that's where we could go again last night.

We hauled in buckets, sand tools and a huge blanket to lay on. We set up

our spot and then head out to explore. We let the kids play in the river,

and we even tracked across a shallow area (ankle deep) to another island.

We found all kinds of driftwood, animal tracts and even a small pool of water

filled with tadpoles. We filled up a bucket and brought the tadpoles home.

The kids loved playing in the water and the sand. We didn't get there until

7:00pm so we enjoyed watching the sun set as well. Who says we have to

live near a beach? We will be making many trips here over the summer

as the children love it here and so do we.

Happy 30th b-day / Father's Day!!

Well, today is Patrick's 30th B-day / Father's Day. I woke him up
around 5:00 this morning for his birthday surprise.... A Hot Air Balloon
ride! It was fun being able to see the whole process of the balloon set-up.
Patrick helped quite a bit. The ride was very cool with some great views.
It was a pretty neat experience that Patrick & I enjoyed. Patrick said
that he had a blast! A BIG THANKS to my friend Tracey who watched
our sick kids SUPER early in the morning!! It is rare that we get out to
do something just the two of us so, we really appreciate it. After the
balloon ride and breakfast on the ground Patrick went rock climbing
with his friend. While he was gone the kids and I worked on his cake.
We made him a chocolate cake with a boiled peanut butter frosting.
The kids decorated the cake with candies. They were happy when Daddy
got home and opened up their gifts. All in all it was great day. We still
need to have our big dinner of ribs, twice baked potatoes, corn on the cob
and Cesar salad. We love you hope you had a great day!!

Another one with Pneumonia

Yup, Miss Savannah went to the doctor today. She got her fever back
this week and her cough has been horrible. We hope everyone will finally
be feeling better and we can get on with our summer.

Pneumonia

So, I took Trevor to the Doctor today. It turns out he has pneumonia.
Now that he is on some strong antibiotics we hope he'll be feeling
much better soon. Poor guy....not the way to start his summer. Enjoying a Popsicle after the doctor visit

Tinker Town Museum

This afternoon after nap time we headed out to the Sandia Mountains to
a town called Sandia Park. We went to a quaint little museum called
Tinker town. It's an awesome museum filled with eccentric collections
of Americana. A man named Ross Ward started this collection over 40
years ago. His miniature wood-carved figures he started making in
junior high. Today, over 50,000 glass bottles form walls that surround
the museum. While we were there we got a fortune from Esmeralda and that
brought us to our letterbox find. We loved the cool fortune teller stamp.
It was fun looking around. The kids are still sick especially Trevor
so, he was not into as much. Poor kid still has a fever. The kids all
picked out grab bags that was fun for them. They were loaded with all
kinds of toys. On our way home we stopped at Cracker Barrel
(yes, with our sick kids) for dinner, even though Griffin was the only
kid who ate we enjoyed it.

Fun at Home

So, since the kids are not feeling well we are sticking close to home.

It's getting old,very old. Today I helped them make boats which

they floated in the bathtub. I also brought my rice tub outside.

Griffin & Savannah had a great time playing with that. This evening

I blew up some balloons and they put them in front of the fan and

watched them blow away. Trevor played with his balloon in bed,

and didn't do much at all today cause he's feeling pretty bad.

Sick of Being Sick!!!!

This is starting to get a bit ridiculous. The kids
have been sick for weeks now. It started with
Savannah getting croup, then Griffin got sick
with a fever and nasty cough, the Mr. Trevor
got the bug. Griffin's cough got so bad that he
finally went on antibiotics. He was coughing
so much he was throwing up all the time all
over the place. Patrick got it next, and it wiped
him out... a few days later it was my turn.
Whatever we got made us SUPER tired.
Fevers, coughs, sore throats, congestion all
that fun stuff. We have spent tons of time
sleeping here. After that started getting better
we caught a stomach bug. Now the kids have
MAJOR coughs and fevers AGAIN!! I tell you
it does not feel like summer here. Today was a
rather cool day so, I opened up all of the windows,
changed the air filter, vacuumed and dusted
everywhere, changed all the bed sheets and
sprayed Lysol over the surface of the entire house. I hope everyone gets
better soon. This is getting really old. How I'd love to be able to do a hike
Without someone or everyone having a major coughing fit, or a meltdown cause
they don't feel good. Seriously the kids have not even been to church in weeks.
We shall see I guess.

* Update my friend Trayce thinks we need to be checked for swine flu since we've been sick so long and have all the symptoms....I'll at least call the doctor tomorrow :)

Sad Faces :(

This one is genuine Griffin feeling bad with an earache... poor guy!!

This one is FAKE... she was just told that's she'd be having her dinner

for breakfast. I know we're such mean parents!

Savannah's first trip to the Dentist

Savannah had her first Dentist appointment today. She asked me before

we left if she would have to hold still, and I told her yes. She said "I don't

know if I can hold still Mom". She did great and has wonderful healthy

teeth as do the boys.

Letterboxing

We decided to start doing letterboxing as a family as a fun inexpensive
activity we could do this summer. If you don't know what it is you can go
to http://www.letterboxing.org/ to find out more info. Basically there
are these boxes hidden all over North America. Each box contains a stamp.
We bought the kids there owns sketch books to use for stamping. You
follow clues to find a hidden box and stamp your book, you also have
a family stamp that you use in a book located within each box, so people
can see who has found that box, and where they are from. The kids thought
it was a great adventure as we found our first 2 letterboxes today.
We plan on taking many trips this summer to get as many stamps in our
books as we can. Try it with your families I'm sure they will enjoy it.
Make sure you read the FAQ's so you know exactly how it's done.