The mighty and brave!... Or crazy!

We've recently had some friends approach us wanting to learn to kayak. Sounds great! We live really close to Lake Lowell, it will be fun, Hannah can play on the beach, John is ecstatic to get back in a boat, and overall will be a good time with friends!

Not when the weather drops and it is FREEZING outside! But we have this very determined friend Trina who is an amazing leader in our generation.... So since she wanted to press on... Press on we did! Or I guess I should say... they did! John asked me what I was going to wear if I let Trina borrow all of my gear? My response was simple... Unless someone is drowning and there is not another sould willing to save them, I have absolutely no intentions whatsoever of getting in that ice cold water in 35degree weather. I think all of you are crazy. So away went John, Micah, Trina, and Maddie into the freezing water for the next 2 hrs. They were beyond frozen. Lucky I'm a mom now and was prepared with hot water and hand warmers! I rock as a mom! =)

So we bundled Hannah in her snowsuit, packed lots of hot cocoa and cider, and had a warm blast of fun on the beach while the rest of those crazies froze!

Maddie's artistic shot of her Hot Cocoa..

Trina and Micah... Part of the Crazies!

Oh warm sun how we love you!

This is Hannah smiling sweetly at the cows across the trail. There is a trail we walk a couple of miles from our house that is basically like a zoo on one half and a duck sanctuary on the other. It is the best 3.15miles there is to walk in Nampa and at about the halfway point Hannah always gets out to pet the animals through the fence.

Hannah was hoping the goats would eat the dandelion. They definitely did!

There were even some baby goats that were only 1 week old (no pictures though?) today we met the owner of the land where all of this is. He is an old very deaf man who is really nice. You could see the joy in his face when Hannah would giggle while petting all of the various animals. That was a great discovery because I have always wondered if at some point the owners would come out yelling at us because we were too close or something. But we got the ok to come over and over.... that we will do!

Hannah has obviously experienced that the goats will eat just about anything which is why she is cautiously watching her behind instead of smiling for the picture!

There are some of the sweetest cows right now on the trail that we walk. They are young and very curious about both Hannah and Sadie.

Hannah, being the animal lover that she is, could spend hours at the fence. It always takes a bit of convincing to leave.

Hannah in action.

Everything and anything is blooming right now, I let Hannah smell the flowers at the post-office the other day and now she wants to stop and smell them all. Today we did that. Our week finally calms down by Friday and we have no reason to rush. So if smelling flowers is what Hannah wants to do... it sounds good to me!

Again these are some of the ducks we have helped through the winter with various loaves of bread!

And here are some of the first baby ducks of the season! We saw 4 different families... they are so small and fuzzy! The mom's are very protective right now (which is understandable) and they were not to fond of Sadie even being within sight of their babies. She was on a leash not more than 4 or 5 feet from the stroller but there were 3 ducks that decided they would do something about it. As they flew directly at Sadies head I realized on the upswoop my head was in danger! I quickly hit the deck only to feel the wind of their wings, I was greatful that I was paying attention! All this while Hannah laughed uncontrollably! Where's the video camera when you need it?

Heritage Foothill Festival

If you are a resident of the Treasure Valley I would suggest you not attend this festival next year (If they even have it!). I was under the impression that this festival has been part of the Valley's celebration for years... but let me tell you it's not! I basically got suckered into going to see an up and coming subdivision in the foothills! Bummer!

The had some fun stuff like sheep herding presentations and a small farmers market. But the main reason pulling me there was the tethered hot air balloon rides. And yep you guessed it... as usual in the valley the normal 30 -40 mph wind gusts were present so the balloon was grounded and packed up. So we watched the herding presentation again! =)

Hannah did enjoy getting her face painted and steered completely away from the clowns making balloon animals (Have I told you she is terrified of clowns ever since the Ringling Bros circus? Don't suggest going there with a toddler, there are some very old clowns that have been with the circus forever and are just creepy) so we walked the neighborhood looked at some model homes and enjoyed the beauty of the foothills. Not to mention the wonderfully glorious warm day!

It's supposed to be a flower??

Fun with Grandma

Grandma has been here a little over a week now, much has gone undocumented, but we sure have had some good times and are not looking forward to dropping her off at the airport next Wednesday! But until then we will make the most of our time and start counting the days until we see her again!

I think Hannah was more interested in calling the ranch dressing for dipping her fingers in than posing for a picture with our onion ring tower!

Here Hannah and Grandma are getting ready to blow the world's biggest bubble at the Discovery center in Boise. Too bad Guiness wasn't there to document it!

Hannah also took on the role of a veterinarian and cared for many different animals at the pet hospital.

Lots of time spent emptying the shelves at the mini-mart with everything just her size!

I imagine trips to the store will never be the same...

Yes she was nervous when I told her I was going to place her on a bed of nails... Don't worry she survived and can still drink a glass of water without it squirting out of hundreds of tiny holes in her back!



She was also the smallest one to test the chair lift on her own and did great! She even went 3 or 4 times after this, hoping to wait in a long long line for the 5th and 6th times, but we drug her out the door instead! =)

Hannah and Grandma have been enjoying craft time everyday! She is becoming a well rounded little girl in all of the different forms of art!

Hannah even got to attend her very first movie at the theatre! We went to see Horton Hears a Who and it was a success!

Nothing more adorable than a tiny girl with a ginormous bucket of popcorn!

Hannah was glued to the screen most of the time and thoroughly enjoyed her skittles as you can tell by her skittle smeared face! And obviously a funny movie as you can tell by John laughing behind her. And yes I am now a shameless mother who will take pictures during a movie to document her child's first visit to the theatre! (Don't worry... after the flash I looked around to see who took the picture too! =) Who would have thought!?!?!? )