Category Archives: outdoors

Impromptu Nature Walk

When you get thrown gorgeous weather in September, you take advantage of it, so even though we were going to spend last Saturday cleaning and organizing, I talked everyone into going on some walks at a nearby Reserve!  It was one of my best ideas and despite some bug bites, I think everyone had a really good time.

We went to the nature center first to check in and get an idea of what was in the area, which led us to their outdoor play area.  We told the kids they could play for a while, but then we’d have lunch and do some exploring!

We were even joined by a little slug at one point!  It was fun just watching him creep along and then Enzo gave him some of his apple.

Have I mentioned that the day was beautiful?  Because the weather was amazing!  It was so nice to just leisurely stroll and see what kinds of fun things we could spot.  Enzo even saw a fish pop up to eat a bug when we stopped at one of the lake docks!

With so many different potential trails to go on, we chose one that had a boardwalk through a wetland area.  Considering we forgot bug spray, it probably wasn’t our greatest decision, but thankfully the mosquitoes haven’t been as bad this year as they usually are. We survived to tell the tale!

I was the one lagging behind for most of the day.  I am at my happiest in the woods, though, and I was soaking it in.  Plus, there were a lot of things to see!  Spider webs stretching across the trail over our heads, fungi and so many pretty flowers.

Now, this flower I thought for sure was a fungi, but it turns out it isn’t!  It seems to be most commonly known as Ghost Plant or Indian Pipe and is part of the blueberry family!  It looks so white because it has no chlorophyll and is a non-photosynthetic plant. Because it doesn’t photosynthesize, it’s basically a parasite that lives off of other plants like trees.  Anyway, it was the first time I had ever seen them and they really are kind of eerie growing in the darker shaded parts of wooded areas.

Just as we were headed on our way back to the nature center, we (or rather Josh) spotted a fantastic prairie area that we naturally just had to go explore. There was a breeze, and better yet, no mosquitoes, but it was nice to just see the prairie grasses wave in the wind and watch bees flit from blossom to blossom.

I’m pretty sure we’ll back.

Summer’s End

While Summer may not technically be over yet, it certainly feels that way.  School buses are in full force now and the leaves are changing on some of my favorite trees and temperatures are beginning to cool as well.  Enzo hopped on a bus to Kindergarten today, taking a piece of my heart with him as his smile practically exploded out of his face.

It was kind of perfect then that this last weekend before school commenced was so nice.  On Monday (after a couple of long, busy days) all the kids wanted to do was hang out and after I returned from shopping we went outside to enjoy that beautiful weather.

I was a little disappointed that we didn’t seem to have any monarchs this year on our Milkweed, but we still saw plenty this weekend, nonetheless, and some happy little bumblebees.

It says Mom ♥ Enzo ♥ Phoebe.  Sure, kiddo, just melt my heart a little more.  My eyes are watering because of allergies.  Allergies, okay??

This little lady also moved into the Preschool room this week. She still seems to think she’ll be going back to the Pre-Preschool room, however, and it’s taking some time to convince her that her old teachers are not her teachers anymore.

Thanks for a fabulous day, Universe.

Water Balloon Fight

Well, considering we’re almost to fall, I should probably enjoy these summer moments while they last.  The high is the in 50s today. The 50’s.  I’m not ready for fall and quite frankly, it gives me a bit of the sads when I even start to go there, so I won’t.

I had a lot of great intentions for summer this year, and then I’m not really sure what happened… I suppose we have been a bit busy and considering the kids had swimming lessons every Sunday for the majority of the summer that kind of explains why we didn’t do much else with water.  How can summertime be so short, though?  I feel like we really need to get in a few outside swimming days before the pools close, but that will depend entirely upon the weather. We did, however, have at least ONE decent water balloon fight.  I didn’t get any pictures during the fight since they both gained up on me multiple times, but it was a lot of fun.

Who knows, maybe we’ll have time to sneak in one last fight before the end of summer, and maybe we’ll even convince Josh to join us.

Road Trip Part 6 – Durango

The trip from California to Durango, Colorado was done overnight, so we didn’t make many stops along the way, however count on small children to need to use the restroom at the worst time possible when there are no bathrooms around.  Haha. We also started to run into cooler drizzly weather which made exiting the car even more enjoyable.

I really failed at taking pictures during this portion of our trip and I don’t know why!  Maybe because it felt so much like just being at home?  I know at home I have to make more of an effort to pick up my camera at times.  Plus, a lot of our time was just spent hanging out and chatting and unfortunately we were only there a few days, so that has a lot to do with it as well. Lots of good food and just nice to be home where really not much has changed, and as always a part of me thinks of moving back one day.  Just maybe.

My dad has several of these large creepy crawlies around the yard and on his Jeep that he has made.

Enzo disovered Sprite on this trip, and now we’ve had to come to an agreement that he only gets it occasionally as a special treat. 😉  Also… while I try to avoid the kindles at restaurants, at this point in our trip the kids got cranky pretty fast and this battle is one I chose not to fight.

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Road Trip Part 4 – Beach, Please.

See what I did there?  Yeah, yeah, not original in the slightest, but it’s been a long week and it’s cold and rainy, so it’s the perfect day to relive some fun at the beach!

First, though, we spent Friday after our Disney fun just relaxing. The kids played and then we took them to the swimming pool to really wear them out.  Phoebe was very excited to don her fancy gloves and play with her new tea set.

We went to Coronado Beach on a Saturday and surprisingly enough it wasn’t even that busy and the weather was gorgeous!  The water was a tad chilly, but we were so excited to dip our feet in and soak up the warm rays from the sun.

They’re not even a little excited. Ha!

I love how he just carried that shovel around. You never know when you might need to dig a hole, right?  Enzo didn’t necessarily enjoy how cold the water was, but Phoebe couldn’t care less.

Yeah, we all enjoyed the nice weather and change of scenery just a bit.  There were also a ton of tiny clams everywhere!  It was really kind of bizarre, but neat. I’ve never seen so many and it was a little odd to watch their very squishy, gelatinous… selves try and hold on to the sand as the waves came and do whatever it is they were trying to do. Clearly I know nothing about clams.

We’ve been listening to ocean waves as bedtime background noise and it really is so relaxing. I can see why people would choose to live close to it. I have a feeling the kids would say the same. Alas, back to reality and time to pull out my sweatshirt for the high of 48 degrees and even more rain tomorrow. 😉