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Here's an article on the work I'm doing with the park from the Snohomish Herald:

http://www.snoho.com/Stories/042909_freepark.html

If you are in the area and want to volunteer on June 6th at 10 am, email me, we need all the help we can get! PesticideFreeEverett at gmail.com (change the at to an @)

Tulips

Off on an adventure to the Tulip Festival in Skagit County. Very pretty, but a bit dusty; better than the mud from last year! You aren't supposed to walk between the rows. I had to do many retrievals. The colors are amazing.

E is holder her arms funny in this picture, she likes to walk leaning over with her arms out like a chicken. Here, she kept throwing dirt behind her and holding her arms up and running her chicken run. Too funny.

Butters said, "I spy one yellow flower." I told him I'd rather be the yellow flower in a field of pink, wouldn't you? He said, "I'd rather be red flower in a field a pink flowers." Touche.

Zoo

Time to use our membership. Since I've mastered travel with two kids, we've done some visits to the zoo if the air is dry! It's the off season, so food is limited and the carousel is closed. Butters wanted to see the horses to find out if their eyes were open or closed. I humored him, "Absolutely, let's look. " That's the best way to learn things, in my opinion, not necessarily the answer but how to find out the answer. He can't hold a pencil right but he knows to manipulate his Mom, I mean, I knows that the carousel horses still have their eyes open even if the carousel is closed. We thought maybe they were watching the kids at visiting the Zoo.

And, the baby just woke up, gotta go!

Color Your Life

A quick shout out to a fellow mom who sells awesome fabrics and has a fun blog:
http://colorinyourlife.blogspot.com/

She's having a fabric giveaway contest and I'm supporting her (in spirit). She makes the coolest clothes.

Conservancy

"Come back here, E. Don't go that way. We are walking the other way!"













Some of her traits I will appreciate more when she's an adult and causing problems for other people (like the government!)








A fuzzy pic but worth it. Fuzzy b/c Butters was pulling on the cameraman's arm.

Baby retrieval-we got tired of it. We were ready to return to our baby proofed house, but the trip was well worth it. I didn't realize how stressed and unhappy my DH was until I saw him having fun-unstressed and happy! He was even doing cannon balls in the pool. Now, he wants to buy a boat. I told him we need a driveway first!

It's not real! He liked seeing animals, but like pushing display buttons better.

We spent a day out of the direct sun at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. A wonderful little rehab sanctuary that was worth the price. DH went deep sea fishing on the last day. My sister took the kids to the park while I packed and cleaned, and then we all went to a park, it sure is easier with two moms. We miss Florida, but since I've got gobs of pictures we won't soon forget it. Plus, we've had several days rain free here and we've been living it up-finally getting in the yard to make improvements, went to the Zoo, sparked up the grill. It's Spring around here and it feels that way-we have a second chance and our rough winter and health problems are no longer. Time to blossom again!

More Trip Photos

I can't believe it's been a week since the trip already! I almost didn't survive this week. The baby is still on East coast time and insists on waking up at 6 am. I would appreciate at least another hour. Plus, I'm hormonal and bitchy-my clue was when I made buttered popcorn and wanted to sprinkle peanut M&Ms on it!

In the "Smile" photo of E at the top, the blanket was made by P.Mookie, my most faithful blog commenter! You can see the bruises on her forehead, she learned about concrete the hard way.

What did I knit on the trip? I started two new projects another gnome hat for the plane rides and a claptois in cotton for the hot weather down times. Hat is done, claptois, not even done increasing. I'm pretending everyone was wondering that and couldn't start their weekend without a knitting tease. Ha.

The Everglades

We hiked in the everglades and saw some alligators (mostly in the parking lot).









Sister, Brother and Cousin loved looking at spiders, bald eagle nests and reptiles.







E was unsure of some gaps, she didn't like walking on some of the boardwalk and avoided the gaps....










But, had no troubles running along other spots. (This is one of the few Aunt Mere photos, she does not like her picture taken).












Here we are, covered in sunscreen on a cloudy day and dealing with hair issues, oh, that was just me!

Beach Day

Hit the beach as much as we could. Kids loved playing in the sand, digging holes, making piles and learning about waves. Towards the end of the trip, Butters was crabby about some things. If we went to the beach, he wanted to go to a park, if we walked the pier, he wanted ice cream. If we got ice cream, he wanted more. We didn't get any more ice cream. Finally, he told us, he missed his house. We told him we didn't, it was cold and rainy and we don't get to play at the beaches like this in WA. He said he missed his dog Levi, too.

Blog Break is Over

Sorry, I was in Florida and haven't posted anything as my email was down and we've been adjusting to the time change. All of us have been grouchy and lazy! Add Easter candy and you can imagine why the delay. We had a very nontraditional Easter Sunday-we had a pantry breakfast (read: eat whatever non-perishable you can find), DH made sushi, we unpacked and had a little egg hunt.

I'll start with a few photos from hanging out at the house (my sister has a pool) and update as the week goes on!

Spring Showers Means Mud

Spring here in the PNW means that any day it's not raining, you get outside and explore. These are hikes we did this past week at St. Edward's Park and the Centennial Trail in Snohomish. Luckily, Mom's car always has extra pants and socks!

Zoo

We went to the Zoo last weekend. Notice anything? Sunshine! It started out as a hat day and ended up sunny. It was a full family affair, nice to have an extra pair of hands and eyes to keep watch. I even got to ride on the carousel on my own horse. E sat down on a pile of dirt, at this age everything is a chance to learn, especially when brother comes over to 'help.' The gorillas were sleepy, but we had a great time!