124: Swinging

The kids realized today we still have a baby swing. And clearly, Zayda it totally enthusiastic.

98: bloomin'

96: Spring at the Bison Range

Annual family picnic at the Bison Range! Nearly all the kids are old enough to play softball this year--kind of fun we have enough people to really play.

69: flooding

When you have huge amounts of snow and then suddenly the temperature rises, apparently the fields turn into lakes. I don't think they'll be needing those irrigation pipes real soon.

67: and then suddenly it was Spring

Just a week or so ago this deck was covered by nearly two feet of snow.

128: Blossoms

104: spring flowers

Daffodils have to get covered in snow at least a couple times each spring.

87: finally blooming

And today, the flowers all decided to bloom.

Usually we have a few occasions after the flowers open where the blossoms are covered by snow, but I'm about done with winter for the year. I'd be fine if we just moved on to more consistent spring weather.

63: almost spring

. . . which probably means I should take the Christmas wreath off the front door.

Spring at the Bison Range

 I didn't ever have time to write anything about our annual Spring Bison Range Picnic a few weeks ago.

Keilana, Maysa, Jenna, Azia & KaNana

But the pictures are saved here, and luckily, I think they tell most of the important parts of the day without adding many words.



We really have quite a large group when all the cousins are together.
 

Zoran. . .

 

Courtney had her own method of kite flying:

Eldon & Aodhan

Iyezk & Zoran and a little teamwork. (Gwen found this hat for Zoran in her car after he crashed into a tree and got a huge nearly golf ball size bump on his forehead. He was really upset and just wanted to go sit in the car. I asked him if he was upset because it really hurt or because he was worried about how he looked. (It is a real issue for Zoran) He told me both. So, the black hat solved the issue at least enough to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

Lex, Sugar makes him happy. ESPECIALLY marshmallows. One of his all-time favorites.

Azia and a very giant marshmellow.

The walk around the pond. Lex is still the worst person ever to hike/ walk with. He has his own agenda for speed, direction, and duration of the outing. None of it matches anyone else's, and he gets really annoyed if you don't go along.  I was thinking as we were all walking this was the first time I can remember we didn't have any strollers. (Everyone is getting bigger. . .)

But maybe I should have brought one and strapped him in!

About 1/3 the cousins. Some we were off on an adventure.  Others were working hard not to be found. 

It's fun (or maybe a little sad. . .) to look back and see how much everyone has grown over the last few years.

2011 Picnic

2010 Picnic

2009 Picnic

Bryce and Zoran. They ran laps around the pond the whole time and couldn't be bothered to stop for a photo. I think this was lap number five.

92: daffodils & rain

Sure signs of spring.

70: kites

When I was picking out kites for the kids, this one seemed perfect for Israel and his history obsession. Unfortunately Lex saw it first when I got home and thought it was perfect for him. Who ended up with it seems to still be unclear.

Costco has a collection of really cool kites right now.

And now we have a collection of cool kites at our house.

For some reason I seem to be more prone to these impulse buys when we have no money, but it was sixty degrees on Friday and beautiful, and somehow I got stuck in Costco buying mountains of supplies for work. It seemed very important that we spend some of the next day outside, so my kids got early happy nearly spring presents. We don't really have a lot of wind around here, but that doesn't really stop them from trying to fly kites. Mom has bought a bunch of the little plastic kites the last few years for our spring Bison Range picnic, and the kids fly them till they fall apart. Then they take the pieces and try to fit them all together to get at least one patched back together to fly a few more days.

Besides entertaining the kids, kite flying is a pretty nice break for me from the continuous research paper reading that filled most of my day today.