Gardening with Grandma

Today was so perfect outside, a light wind, around 70 degrees at 10:00 in the morning, and Joey and Grandma spent the time together in the backyard gardening.  It was so cute to watch the two of them together, digging in the planters, placing the plants we'd bought over the weekend.  A lilly, some geraniums, an african daisy, plus some alyssium.  It really will add just the right touch of spring to our otherwise green backyard.

I even got my hands a little dirty as I helped finish off the planting when mom was ready for a break.  Joey's favorite part of course was digging in the dirt, moving it from one container to another, and basically spilling have of what he was shoveling onto the patio. 

In the end, we all ended up having a nice morning, got a little dirty in the process and built up our appetites for a hearty lunch.  A picture perfect day.

Making the most of the funky weather

This weather has been giving us fits... sunny one moment, hailing the next.  I never seem to be able to follow through on our play dates and Joe gets plumb stir crazy.  So last week I decided to make the most of it and when it was sunny, he got to swim in his baby pool.  Playing with his boats and his water can - basically having a splish splashing blast. 

When it was raining, I put him in his raincoat and boots and let him have puddle play once the worst of the storm had passed.  As it turned out it was Thursday, garbage day in our neck of the woods, and our neighbors cans made the perfect dam to create quite a deep puddle so Joey could stomp and splash until to his hearts content.  He even got to run through another neighbors sprinklers since they were going off.

I decided if I can't beat the weather, then we might as well make the most of it.  Joey seemed to agree as he had a blast with the assortment of playtime activities we came up with.

Pet Groomer Extraordinaire

Boy did my sister save my bacon today.  We've been infested once again with the flea virus and so she flea dipped both cats, blew  and combed them out while at the same time bathing and conditioning our dog, and combing out the bunnies winter coat as well.  And let us not forget all the nails... 16 nails clipped to a more manageable length and all done with a smile.

While we were at the shop grooming, or should I say while Crystal was grooming, mom and Joey stayed at Crystal's place so that we could bomb the house and get the infestation under control on all levels.  Larry got home at 2:30 just when we'd finished up with the animals and aired the house out so it would be safe for the rest of us to inhabit once again.

While Crystal was on a roll, she also trimmed up mom's hair and it turned out looking much better.  It had gotten quite long and mom was having to roll it every time she wanted to look presentable.

Did I mention that my sister is the best groomer around?  If not, then let me say it again, Crystal your the BEST!

Time is slipping by so fast

Been a while since I last blogged and since then we've celebrated Easter, been on quite a few park play dates, and celebrated four birthdays... luckily they were combined in one party.  It was a lot of fun, 60's themed, all peace and love and lots of bubbles for the kids (and us adults if we're being honest).

I've been just too run down to feel much like doing anything, even typing.  I'm trying to switch that up and get more active; just bought a beachcomber bicycle and am hoping to work myself up to nice meandering rides along the paved bike trail that's out here in Rancho Murieta and that runs along the river.  Larry, Joe and I are starting to do family days in the park on Sunday afternoons.  This past Sunday was our first and we took a kite, bubbles and big wands, some chalk and had a blast.  By the time we wound up our day, we had over a dozen kids blowing bubbles with us and taking turns flying the kite.  It was one of the best days ever.

Larry's taken the cover off the pool, and our pool guy has begun to get it back under normal levels.  In a couple of weeks we'll put the solar cover on and heat it up so we can begin swimming in it.  I know mom, Joey and Larry are looking really forward to that.  I'm looking forward to it too, but don't use it as much as them since I like it to be at least 80 degrees.  Plus I'm looking forward to all the BBQ's we have with family and friends during the nicer weather, the fresh corn from Sloughouse, and all the other fresh produce that comes out of Davis Ranch just down the road from us.

Daffodil Hill in the Spring

A couple of weeks ago we ventured up the hill to the town of Volcano to experience the phenomenom called Daffodil Hill.  It was started many years ago by a simply farmer/ranchers wife who began her journey by planting a few bulbs.  Each year she added more, separated others until she had more than 300,000 bulbs planted.  As they emerge in the spring for their short life span it is like a river of gold flowing down the hillside, and fortunately for us the owners of the ranch as it stands today, have been kind enough to share it with the public.

Larry, Joe, myself along with Mary and Else made the trip, with picnic lunch in tow.  It took us just under an hour to get there and when we did, there were a lot of other folks with the same idea.  Although there were many people present it didn't feel overcrowded.

We had dressed Joey and Elsa in the Easter outfits and were going to attempt to take some photo's.  I still haven't seen the end result, so am not sure if we got any good ones or not, but my optimism says we did especially in light of how many pictures we took.

The kids had a ball running up and down the paths, flirting with the mostly senior population in the area.  Once we had sufficiently seen all the blooms on display we made our way down to the picnic grove for our lunch.  We had simple fair - sandwiches, chips, cookies and soda pop and juice boxes.  It made for a nice picnic.

After we finished we gathered our stuff and meandered over to the meadow to take a short siesta in the sun.  It made for a wonderful outing for one and all and it was great to get a chance to hang out with Mary and Elsa.

As soon as I get copies of the photo's I'll post a couple for your viewing pleasure.