When Michael Came...

One weekend in the spring, cousin Michael came for a visit and we went on  a little jaunt to some nearby sightseeing spots.

 The Dry Falls

The Grand Coulee Dam & Visitor Center

 They do a laser light show on the dam after dark which the kids have enjoyed before. We didn't stay that long this time and spent most of the time learning about what it took to get the dam built.

 

 Trying out the divers suit...

 The giant wrench...

 And the jack-hammer.

 We stopped by a new park on our way home, that was just outside of town, and found it a great new spot to go to.

Had a fun playground  as well as a lovely little beach to swim at.

Aubrey preferred to keep her toes OUT of the water, as it was spring and still rather chilly.

 The other 2 enjoyed wading and throwing rocks.

 We have since been back with family and enjoyed swimming in the lake here.
 

When evening snuck up on us we meandered on home to get baths and bedtime done before the  little folk fell to pieces after a long day.

Half way!

In our family it used to be that these 2 were the big kids...

 And this one was the little kid. 

 The Baby. :)

But Guess what?!?!

Now these 3 are the big kids...

Because our family is expanding!

 Half-way day landed on my birthday!

That means #4 is starting to make its presence known to the world in the form of a large bump stickin out in front.

Kate informed me the other day that the baby must be growing because I was getting fat! Elliott promptly responded with an inspection of my tummy and the declaration that, "it WASN'T fat  it was FLAT!" :D The boy already knows what not to say to a woman. :) 

 

 May they always love each other this much! :)

Back when spring was here...

I thought about blogging several times a week...but I never got past the thought.  We have been doing 1 of 3 things pretty much every week for the past several months... Either we are having company, traveling, or sick. So now I thought I would attempt to slowly catch up on posting once again.

I like to do the panorama of the yard regularly throughout the seasons so just skip over it if it bores you. ;)

Spring thunderstorms  passing through.

 
Some of our Spring projects included sanding and refinishing the deck,

as well as painting the kids playhouse, adding the border, and sewing the curtains.

Hooray! No more digging splinters out of little feet every evening.

Aubrey got the first bee sting among the kids when she stepped on a bee during those first barefootin days.

 When spring had blossomed out in all of its beauty we had ourselves a little Springfest!

 We started off with gettin' all decked out with some serious Flower-Do's

Took a tour of all the latest blooms in the yard.

Followed by the Flower-Do Biker Parade

 Next up was watching 'The Weeding of the Beds' by Mommy.

Complemented by some fresh Strawberry-Peach Smoothies (our very favorite!)!

 There was the Egg Discovery held under the tree. 

 A great hands on exhibit! :D

 The Front Porch Rockin' Chair Routine was put on by Miss Kate and The Boy.

Then things got a little more exciting with The Fencewalk...

Practicing on the low one

before graduating to the high one.

He did it too but I was videoing at that point, so no pics.

 and The Bike Stunts!

Wrapping up the fun with Sandboxes...

 And Silliness! :D

 Ending with a glorious sunset! 

Have you ever seen a rainbow in a sunset?  I thought it was pretty cool!

So ended our welcoming of spring.