The Memorial Day Parade

Today, we went to the annual Memorial Day Parade. We met Aubriella and her family there (they saved us a spot - Thank You!). The kids were so good, waiting for the parade to begin:
Coloring a picture together.

The kids had little purple bags, just in case someone in the parade might throw some candy their way. The bags were also perfect toys while we were waiting for the parade to start:

Look at my new hat!

The parade itself was great. Lots of things to look at, and candy too. What else could a girl wish for?

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day too!

A rainy day

Natalie doens't mind rainy days at all. Especially not since she got a new umbrella (thank you, Grandma!): Mary Poppins?!?

Natalie and Mommy enjoying the weather...

The bread in the bag is for the duckies in the pond, we sometimes put some old bread out for them. That's another one of Natalie's favorite activities.

A new raincoat

Nothing like a spring time picture to start off the summer... Natalie got a new raincoat. And in April, there was a lot of rain (and puddles) to play in:

Splash, splash!

Bunny Hop

I've picked up a bad habit lately of having half finished posts sitting as drafts, and forgetting to actually post them. So for the next couple of days I'll try to "clean up" - aka post some old stuff that should have been up a while ago.

To prove a point, let's start with some easter pictures!

The local grocery store had a "Bunny Hop" - a day with all kinds of activities for the kids. There were ring toss games, samples of chocolate milk and carrots for the "bunnies", (temporary) tattoos, etc. Natalie's favorite was the cookie decorting:

Bunny Natalie decorating her cookie.

I think there ended up being more icing than cookie:

Yummi! Now that's a cookie!

Bowling

We've started a new thing - "family night". Once a week, we do something together on a weeknight as a family. Last week, we went bowling. Natalie was really into it! Here she is, with her yellow bowling ball and bowling shoes, just like a pro:

Go for the strike!

Of course, the ramps and bumbers worked out really well.

Everyone had lots of lots of fun!

The sand

Part of the backyard project consisted of getting a couple of loads of sand delivered. Of course, that was an opportunity that Natalie couldn't pass up:

That's a lot of sand!

Natalie kept playing in the sand while I went inside to get dinner started (Karsten was close by, of course). A few minutes later I came back out and found her like this:

Look at the view from up here!

Here's Natalie's description of how she got up there - she just climbed like Curious George, of course...

The backyard project - completed!

The project is complete! Here are some pictures:

The front view.

The back view.

But wait, there's something missing...

A little girl playing on the slides! Wheeee...

"Again!"

"Come on. I want to show you something!"

Up here on the top deck is the perfect place for a picnic!

Happy Mother's Day!

While Karsten had a busy Sunday, Natalie and I enjoyed the day in our own ways by not being busy at all. We just played and had a picnic outside and watched a movie and generally just did whatever we felt like. It was a great day.

In the afternoon, Natalie wanted to go for a walk, her in the stroller and me doing the walking, of course. So we went for a walk around the block (which out by us is about a 3 mile walk...). It was a great time. We took the time to literally stop and smell the roses, or at least the dandelions - and look at the red barns, all the tractors, the dogs in the neighbors yards, the cars that passed us, etc. etc. We never ran out of things to talk about.

Natalie brought her camera. I looked at the pictures afterwards, and they just showed how perfect the whole thing was. A lot of the pictures included her juice box. I guess that was part of her perspective:

But in many pictures it was perfectly clear what she was looking at:

And some of the pictures were quite artistic. I really like the composition of this one:

And this last one is a definite favorite of mine.

It was really a day with a clear, blue sky!

The latest backyard project...

Here's what Karsten was working on this weekend. Can you guess what it is:

"Daddy, what is this?"

Well, let's go on the other side of the garage and see if we can figure it out...
Wow, that's a lot of stuff!

Daddy hard at work, Natalie hard at play (or is it the other way around...)

Well, it's starting to take shape...

Some interesting techniques were used.

To be continued...