Woodland park walk

So after our park adventure I though, sure a walk around the lake would be fun... and it was... for the first half mile. The first half mile we strolled, picked every flower, smelled every flower, and met every dog. Then the second half mile they were cranky and tired. Gracin spent a good part of the time on the ground crying and Rhylan stopped to take a break often. I didn't realize 1 mile would be a LONG walk until half way around...
I told her this was a cattail... she took it literally.








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Park day

One morning after I dropped my mom off at work I decided to take the kids to the park. Yes the park, the only one in town. The town needs more money or something and they are trying to sell it to a developer, dumb! This is the very same park that I went to when we were little. They still have the original wood playground that was there way back then, luckily they have added some newer plastic toys to the fun. The kids really enjoyed the swings. Our favorite park in Mississippi didn't have swings. Gracin wanted to stay in that swing the rest of the day. He almost fell asleep there. That is until he discovered he could go exploring which led to a nice walk... post coming soon.







She was so proud that she could hang from these rings for a few seconds!!

70 degrees!

Pinetop was perfect weather!!! It was between 70 and 80 most days, with an afternoon rain, ahhh... So we spent a lot of time outside in my parents front yard. Gracin discovered the water fountain right away. He usually was soaking wet after a few min. They also enjoyed jumping on the trampoline, swinging on the porch swing (pictured with Uncle Zak) and just exploring.

Okay here we go!!

Way back in July, the kids and I headed to Arizona to scope out places for us to live and visit family. My mother in law just started a job with Southwest and she got us some free tickets. The only problem is we were on standby. Things were going smoothly for our first two flights but we got stuck in El Paso for hours!!! We got bumped 2 or 3 times, I forget, and we ended up being in El Paso for 7 HOURS!!!! I seriously have no clue how we survived. The kids were so so so good. Thank goodness for our DVD player, and ipods. Gracin actually fell asleep in his stroller...surprisingly. By the time we got to Phoenix we had been awake for 14 hours. Rhylan fell asleep as we were landing in Phoenix, of course. Luckily the plane rides them selves were only 1-1.5 hrs. We didn't even get to watch a whole movie before we had to start landing. Rhylan didn't even have time to say "I have to go to the bathroom!" After much stress it turned out just fine.

Here they are in the plane.

Water

If any of you have ever tasted the water here in the phoenix area you know it is nasty.  We are figuring out that if you put the water in the fridge, it doesn't taste so bad.
Last night Rhylan asked for a drink, I got her sippy cup from the fridge. As I was leaving the room she began to yell for me to come back. She didn't want to keep the cup.  I asked why not. She said "it will melt into yucky water."

Splash pad

We went exploring today and found a free splash pad really close.  We were the only ones there the whole time. It was great.

Playing in the water

We are here in Pinetop at my parents house. The kids are loving going outside everyday. The weather has been perfect. One day we just played with water. I remember jumping on the tramp with the sprinkler when I was younger too. What fun memories.





Carly and I couldn't let the kids have all the fun however. Word of caution... don't go on your knees, you could brake some blood vessels in your feet and have painful bruises for days--Carly. Or you could get cut and bleed from rocks under the slide--me!!--- or go to fast and totally biff it at end--me again.

My dad can still do back flips on the trampoline!!

Vern

One night as we headed out the door, Rhylan spotted this little guy walking in our yard. Riley of course grabbed him, put him in a box inside our house and ta da, we have a new pet! After we got home from running errands Riley said "I have to go get something." Then next day was my birthday, so I didn't ask questions. He came home with a huge aquarium for Vern. I guess he was planning to keep for a while! We did let him go after a few days, we couldn't tell if he was eating and we didn't want to kill it! Too bad, I have never seen Gracin so excited about any animal ever!! He was talking up a storm, clapping, smiling, and doing all sorts of hand gestures to show how happy he was. Rhylan still hasn't noticed he is gone. A few days after he was set free, I heard her tell someone she has a pet turtle.

Last day in the backyard

I don't know what we are going to do without a backyard now!! These two would live out here if I let them. These are take from the last time we got to play out back. I just love these pictures and I think they are a good reminder of your home in Mississippi.

See how sad he is going to be?

Oh there is that happy boy!

Letting the water out