short, funfilled visit

We had Papa & Grammy staying at our house this weekend.  It was a short, but fun filled visit.

Saturday was a big day. S, J and I had our first ice skating lessons. S did great in her class. J and I are in the same class that is supposed to teach toddlers and their parents how to skate. We practiced falling and getting up…quite a bit more falling. I actually melted a dent in the ice where I sat on my sorry backside too long! Joseph was really proud to tell his daddy that he learned “to slip and skate on my bum”. I am pretty sore today, not because of the ‘controlled’ falling, I’m just sadly out of shape, but the kids thought it was a blast and if we can make it so they have skills that I don’t then the pain is worth it.

After the skating lessons we took Grammy & Papa to the SDSMT Museum of Geology which we always love. AJ’s favorite sound this week is “WOW!” He repeats it constantly and with enthusiasm, so it sounded like he was really admiring all the rocks and fossils.

What IS Papa going to do to that fish??

J loves to tell how this scary, big fish fossil startled him the first time he saw it.

Papa REALLY gets into his dinosaurs!

Watch out Papa!!

Next the sun came out and warmed everything up, so we planted our first tree in our yard. By “we” I mean I clipped the coupon that saved us $45, pointed to the one I liked in the nursery, pointed to the place I wanted it and then took photos while Marc and Papa lugged the tree around, dug the hole which required a power saw to get through some major roots and this wicked looking rock pick thingy to get down into the bedrock and then the kids got out their little shovels to do the backfilling. :)  

Yes, we live in the forest, so the new little pine doesn’t really show up that much and some people might think we didn’t really need another tree, but most of our trees are the same age so we thought we should start now to grow the trees to replace the ones will all die out some day. Plus, being the weekend between Earth Day and Arbor Day, it just seemed like the right time to start making amends for the Christmas tree.

J hamming it up in the popcorn tree

sneaking around in the tall grass

chewing some tall grass

tag in the tall grass

hooray for sunshine!!!

 

here comes trouble!

My cutie!

J and S had been literally running all afternoon showing Grammy & Papa all over the yard and playing hide & go seek and tag in the tall grass and were wiped out. M wanted his folks to try the Saturday night ribs at his favorite local restaurant which is, of course, decorated in jackalopes. J fell asleep in his dinner.