Vacation Week

Just to keep up with my weekly reports, I thought I would share what we did last week even though we were on vacation.

We did a lot of nothing. It was nice to not have lots of things to do and places we needed to go. We just hung out at Grandma's house and watched a lot of Dish TV (the science channel's How it is Made was the favorite during this trip)and played a lot of Alice Greenfingers, Civilization, and Zoo Tycoon.
The only only things I had planned for the week were our outing to Mercer Caverns and Henry's Birthday Party with the cousins. Both of those were easy to squeeze in between all those tv shows and computer games.

We did spend a lot of time outdoors too. The swimming pool in Grandma's backyard got a work out each afternoon. Grandpa got smart and gave the kids a place to dig in the sand and dirt. They would play in his garden last year and destroyed a bit so this time they have their own area to dig in. My kids love to dig in the dirt and mud so this was always where I would find them when they headed outside.
Sophie noticed that Grandpa's garden has a number of pumpkins and she was determined to pick one and cook it up. So one day I cut up and boiled a pumpkin for her and then made pumpkin muffins. There is still a bunch left over even after doubling the recipe. One pumpkin goes a long way.
We also took our almost daily walk up the street. I always grin when the kids can point out the different flowers that they see along the way. They spotted some hollyhocks growing next to someone's mailbox and got all excited because these were purple ones and they hadn't ever seen purple ones before. (Sorry didn't bring the camera on this walk.)
We also spotted these thistles out in the pasture.
One of the things about being up in the foothills is that there are so many birds. I would often just sit in front of the big windows in the front room and watch the many different birds fly around. All sorts of blue birds, robins and even some acorn woodpeckers. Here is a very poor picture of one of the woodpeckers. There were about 5 of them flying around one morning and the moment I open the door to go outside they suddenly fly away.
Birds are very difficult to get pictures of. But we did manage to find a few feathers while out and about. This one is from a blue bird. Can you see the slight blue tinge to one edge?


We actually went to the store one day and the kids got to pick out a new toy. Ian saw these play mobile knights and wanted them so badly. He used the "they are for school" line with me and I couldn't resist seeing him play with these crusaders. He had a lot of fun with these little guys even without the castle and things that he has at home. He just broke out some blocks to build forts with and other toys from Grandma's stash and had a great time.


Then we had Henry's Birthday Party. He had requested that his cousins be at his party which was easy to arrange. Here are a few of them enjoying Grandma's home made pizza.Did you notice the Spiderman party hats. I was so amazed that they were such a hit. Even Julie, my sister, wore her's during the party.
No party is complete without a pinata. Henry had a hard time deciding what king of pinata to pick. I should learn how to make them then I can just make it to order. But he ended up with a shark. Ian said it was to go with the shark in his tummy that he talks about once in awhile.Henry had a great birthday and had so much fun blowing out the candles and opening gifts.


Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for hosting such a fun Vacation.