Ninja Park

This is the park/playground around our old house in Picardy Pointe. I love that trail.... back in my day, none of it was paved! Ha! We had to take the trail to get to the "Ninja Park" - aka the new Elevate Fitness course designed for children 12-19. It reminds me of the American Ninja Warrior obstacle course, hence the name. 

Let me also add it was COLD! Spring really wasn't ready to get here after Easter. It had to have been in the mid 40's that day - cold for mid-April in North Carolina!

Nonetheless, we persevered!

My memory of that morning with Brock was not a fond one... and even though he was quite whiny when we arrived and wouldn't do much in the beginning, he thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm trying to teach this concept to Brent - if the children are being above and beyond horrible, it's actually better to take them out somewhere like this because it gets out some of their energy and introduces them to something new - rather than stay in the house and just annoy me while I try to wash dishes. :)

I digress.... the park was great! The boys will obviously love it when they are at least somewhat closer to the defined age group - but even Kade figured out what to do right off the bat!

The highlight of the park was the Racing "Track".... how many times Brock asked me to film him and time him! He even let me race him! He asked several times who I thought would win if Daddy were there - and asked if we could bring Daddy the next time we came so he could race him!
Brent - a challenge??

Easter 2018

 We are catching back up, so bear with me.....

Synopsis: Easter happened sometime in March/April this past year.... the boys enjoyed it. :)

The City of Apex held an Easter Egg hunt the weekend before....

We met my Father out at a helicopter egg drop, but it was WAY too crowded.

Kade got to grab a few eggs, but some dumb people spoiled it for the big kids. Even though the crowd was told to wait until AFTER the helicopter made its drop, lots started running out on the field while eggs were falling.... after 3 times of getting the crowd back together and they still ran back out, we decided to skip on out! :(

Kade took a power nap in the car and we drove to Easter excursion stop #2! JC Raulston Arboretum hosts an Easter Egg Hunt every year (this was 7th Annual) - super cute. I've watched my local friends do this for years and now we get to join! Painted wooden eggs are hidden across the gardens - each with one letter of a scrambled botanical word - find all the letters, unscramble the word, and you are given a prize!

This was SUCH a fun activity for them - we will surely be back next year!

Big brother helping little brother write out the word on his paper too!

2018's Botanical word..... Marigold!

Our new puppy Moose sniffing an Easter flower.

Easter Baskets!!

Headed to Church with our Easter Baskets, but wait.... what is that on our steps??!

The Easter Bunny left footprints!!

Oh, that face on Kade..... side eyeing me!

Perhaps we hyped it up too much? Kade would not pick up ONE egg at the church egg hunt!

Brock was ready!

More eggs at home!!??!!

Moose was excited to get in on it too!

My Mother

My mother passed away this February. She had been sick for almost a year, fought it until the very end, until the cancer won over her body. I won't lie, it's been an extremely difficult year - before she left us and now after. Besides thinking about a million other things, I thought about this blog and how most of my picture taking was always for her. We lived in Washington State and she was so far away - she was always the main person I'd take that extra picture for.  

I went back and forth about what to share on my blog about this tragic event. I don't think this is the right place and I don't want to spiral in to paragraphs and paragraphs about how much I miss her and how I feel about things.... I do, however, want to continue with the blog - I love looking back and reading these entries - my critiques on particular playgrounds, sharing birthday party cake shots, the joys of potty training.... I know my mother pulled these up often to read and watch the videos. 

So.... I will continue to write about my family's travels and adventures and tantrums and firsts (like first tee-ball games - eek!) and I hope whoever else is reading enjoys them half as much as my mother did.

But, I will say.... Thank you for being our Mother and teaching us all that you did - you truly did an amazing job.

I love you.