The wall is coming down!

Finally!

It has begun. The wall is being torn down today, along with the front steps.

Here is the start of it...



A brick in the roots of one of the trees removed last fall.







The boys have come home from school and Zane says "This is the closest I've EVER been to a Bobcat." He has been sitting on the front porch and just came in saying "Well that was fun, until I saw a bee."




...another pic (for Slade who is out of town)

Mother's Day Continues...

My request for our activity this Mother's Day was to go and buy some window boxes and then plant and install them!

We did accomplish that - but for some reason I didn't take any pictures! Strange I know. The leftover plants went into various spots around the garden. Slade also got the water fountain up and running (he did that yesterday actually). Zane found a great spot for some leftovers in his planter that Erika did with him for his birthday. They planted clover, which is growing nicely and we wanted to add some flowers. We also set up the gnome garden and home, by summer's end plants are usually growing all over it and you have to weave thru the greenery to find it all. The tree has sprouted it's leaves and it's canopy is lovely in the yard.

Mother's Day

How to tell if you are Mom's favorite...



This cracks me up.

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

...so I was showing this pic to Seby & Zane and they didn't get it. They didn't see that the Mommy Bird was stepping on one baby to feed the other. Zane said, "Maybe they are just cooperating." Ugh.

Dessert Hot Springs

Slade and I went to Dessert Hot Springs (In California) for a few days. We stayed at Hope Springs - which is a small place with 10 rooms, adults only. We had looked at going here on a vacation many years ago, I think Slade had read a NYT's review of it.

Then several years ago Maud (Slade's sister) sent us the website for a small place she and her hubby were buying with some friends - same place. So, it was great to have Maud & Lucas come meet us for lunch at Hope Springs. They brought us lunch and we had a few hours to hang out and chat.

We worked on perfecting our ability to DO NOTHING. Well maybe lay in the sun and read books, but to be as lazy as we can during the day and end it going out to dinner. We went to some great restaurants in Palm Springs (a 10 min drive). The funniest thing to me is that being in the dessert the best food I had was the Alaskan King Crab - I got some in almost every restaurant we went to.

We are firming up our summer plans and look forward to the many adventures we have coming up. Spring is still taking it's time to get going. The good news is a late spring usually means a late start to fall.

Cody & Track

Cody is doing track for his spring sport in high school. You don't have to do it, but they highly encourage kids to pick a sport for every season (fall-winter-spring). It isn't super competitive, which also means that everyone plays. Cody did soccer in the fall and his coach (who is also the Track Coach) suggested to him he go out for Track because he is a fast runner.

Cody has been doing sprints, relays, and pole vaulting. He made Varsity for pole vaulting. I was a judge at the last meet where he cleared the 7' pole. He was thrilled to get a ribbon for it and points to earn the school "letter."

Coming of Age Ceremony

Last night was Cody's Coming of Age Ceremony.

Here is his good friend, Caleb, doing his Spiritual Statement (note Cody waiting for his turn on the bench).



Cody getting to the mic for his statement.



This is Mark, Cody's mentor for the class. The church set us up with Mark and it was lovely to meet somebody new in the church and get to know him and his family. I know Cody had a good time getting to know him and having their time together.



Cody with Slade and I. (Note, Cody is wearing the shirt Slade wore for our wedding!)



All the boys.



It was a lovely service and showed us (once again) what a great community we have found ourselves in. We are not members of the church yet, but more and more I feel the pull to take that next step.

Thank you to so many who sent letters of advise to Cody for his "Wisdom Book".

Zane's B-day

Here are some belated pics from Zane's b-day.

Here he is showing off his wad of cash from Papa & Clip Clop.



GrandAnn, you can see that the water bottle was a big hit.



At the dinner table.



Waiting to open his pile of presents.



Showing off what he got with his wad of money. Papa & Clip Clop - obviously you give the kid too much money!

Retaining Wall

The retaining wall has served this house well since 1913! Now it is time for it to come down. This coming Saturday it will stand no more! Of course that also has to be the day of the Junior High Potluck at our house. So folks will have to come up the driveway to the front porch, and hopefully most of the debris will be gone.

We are eager to get the new retaining wall up, a fence, and a new patio - and landscaping that is still being figured out.

I can't wait for a place that the kids can more easily play soccer and a spot for the grown-ups to watch them. The street improvement will be huge and I really look forward to that.