Tolmie State Park

We went to Tolmie State Park to visit with Aunt Ayana, Clara and Joel (the newest cousin).  These pictures basically ended up in here backwards but ultimately it doesn't matter.

Joel was only awake for the first 10 minutes or so, then he fell asleep and spent the afternoon snuggled with his mom.  Of course, I forgot to get his picture.

There were thousands of these Oyster clusters all over the beach, once the tide went out.

The kids worked together to gather crabs.  The largest ones were about the size of a quarter.

They even found a couple tiny hermit crabs.

Aunt Ayana showed the kids how to dig for clams.  They managed to get a couple of them .

Once again, there were thousands of live sand dollars across the beach.  It makes you kind of nervous walking around since they're so delicate. 

They had fun feeling the "fuzz"

Clara was willing to touch the sand dollar and shells, she had no interest whatsoever in holding a crab.

One of the hermit crabs Dillon found.  He figured out pretty quickly that it would come out once it was underwater.

Grandma G talked Kayda up to Clara, big time.  It all started with Clara wanting to play games on Grandma G's ipad, Grandma didn't know how to play them so she would tell Clara "Kayda will have to show you."  and such.  So the first thing Clara did was ask for Kayda.  Despite having three cousins to dote on her, Kayda was the only one she was really interested in.  Clara would be down the beach yelling for Kayda to go with her.

Clara took off running and Kayda, Dillon and Carson tagged along.  They were all incredibly attentive and had a great time with Clara.

Kayda, Dillon and Carson kept turning over big rocks to find the crabs.

We didn't spend a terribly long time since it was pretty chilly.  You can see all the red fingers!  They had a great time and we're looking forward to seeing their family again in July.

Easter!

This year we decided to try something a little different for Easter.  Normally we dyed hard boiled eggs and ending up not eating them all.  This year we got plastic ones; and stuffed them with candy.  We actually had a really good time doing it and then there were a lot more for the kids to hunt Easter morning.  Each kid ended up having 32 eggs to find!  We did label them again so they had to find THEIR eggs. 

 The Easter bunny brought them hiking boots!  We're really excited to put them to use!

Carson decided to wear a dress shirt since Easter is a special occasion!

 There were so many eggs they ended up hunting in the front and the backyard this year.

Carson's tree

Today was career day at school.  One of the people that came was an arborist.  They brought apple trees for all the Kinder-2nd graders.  Carson was jumping out of his skin, so excited to have his own tree.  We went swimming and as soon as we got home we had to plant his tree!  Right now it's just a stick in the mud, literally, but you wouldn't know it with the way Carson talks!

Rock climbing

We joined the YMCA in order for the kids to have swim lessons and access to the pools and such.  The one we go to has a rock wall so the kids are able to take rock climbing classes.  They can all make it to the top of the sections, now it's just doing the "routes" which are rated by difficulty.  They absolutely love it.   The wall is 30ft tall.  During "break weeks" which is when people are signing up for the next sessions we're over at the rock wall as much as possible.  Once classes start they can only go once a week, if they get in to the class.  They'll all be in the intermediate class next. 

Dillon's Basketball

 Dillon played basketball for the first time this year.  Daddy went to almost all of his practices and would work with him a little during and after the practices.  The coaches seemed to be having a hard time directing the kids so most of what Dillon learned was because of that extra Daddy did.  Dillon pratically ran himself into the ground each practice because he gives it his best.  He made huge strides this year and he wants to play again next year.  His natural defensive mindset held true in basketball.  There were several times the coach would ask Dillon to just hang out by the basket to guard whomever got close to shoot.  The coach actually said he wishes he had five Dillon's because he listens and does what he supposed to which would make a great team.  It took him a little while to build up the confidence to be more assertive and try to shoot himself.  Even with the hesitation he typically had a least one basket per game even though his teammates were bad about passing.  He always overcomes his hesitation, no matter what sport he's playing.  He thinks about the game and understands the way it works.  Between that and how much he commits himself to working hard and getting better, he's going to be a great all around athlete.

Snow Day!

The week after we have a no school day (designated as a potential snow make up) we get snow.  We got about 6 inches, we were all super excited.  Kayda and Carson had a blast out there, Dillon never chose to go out.  The snow was much drier than we normally get so they weren't able to make snowballs, it wouldn't hold together at all.  They still had fun though.

Kayda shoveled off the trampoline for me.  As the snow melts it all goes to the middle and sags really bad.