From the "I meant to post about that files".

We went to Oregon a few months ago and hit the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art while we were there. We had a reason to do that with 4 young kids - Ainsley is crazy about China and they had a Chinese collection there. She was in heaven.

One of the guides noticed her interest and gave her a personalized tour - wish we could have gotten more photos, but, um ... we weren't even supposed to get these ones. The guide showed her how each little window in this building had a little Buddha sitting in it. She wanted to make her own. We need to do that.

Hannah was not as interested, but certain pieces piqued her interest. Don't know why this picture looks like she's touching it - she was trying to point to a pretty color at the top of the piece. She wants to do some artwork like this. Pictures on tiles.

Gray and Matt did their own thing most of the time we were in the museum - Gray was not interested at all.

One thing that the girls really liked seeing was a wedding rehearsal at a beautiful reflection pond they had there. Romantic Hannah was blissed out.

Spring is in the air.

Saturday we had cold but windy weather - good for the first bike ride of the spring.

(Don't recognize that dog? Go here for his story.)

On Monday, we got our first en plein air experience of the year, though it was sketching and not painting. Very satisfying for all of us. Hannah, as always, drew from her imagination. Her page was filled with images of her future chihuahua playing on the lawn, chasing birds, and running beside her bike.

(Matt's trying to fix our grill - hence the grill door on the porch beside them.)

On Monday, the kids did not come in the house for more than five or ten minutes at a time until nightfall, the warm weather was that enticing.

Tuesday morning we woke up to a half-inch of snow on the ground and lots of wind. The girls decided that it was a good day for popcorn.

And reading - lots of Calvin, Batman (Ains' new love), and animal fact books.

Max and Ruby dvd, Poisson Rouge website.

And the jumphouse.

And, instead of en plein air painting, it was 'at kitchen table' painting.

Or for Gray (who showed his first interest in actually painting), 'with bare butt' painting.

For those who have sharp eyes, you may be noticing that my girl's outfits aren't changing much from day to day. We've hit that stage where each has found a favorite outfit and rarely changes out of it. This does save on laundry, but it pushes laundry time to during the night while they're asleep, so it's a trade-off.

While the kids painted, I got a few more rows in on my hammock.

Last night we had a family meeting to discuss our next family vacation. Hannah wanted Hawaii, but she'll settle for dinosaur bones, Ainsley wanted lots of hotels, and she's not willing to settle for less, Matt's wanting the Oregon Coast, I'm aching to meet some wonderful friends that I've never met 'in real life', so I was wanting the East Coast during the time that they both meet there. Budget constraints did in Hawaii, lots of hotels, and the East Coast, so Matt's Oregon Coast looks like it's winning out. We're looking into dinosaur bones sites out there and I'm trying to figure out how to stretch our travel to meet some other fantastic, beautiful, lovely, wonderful online friends.

In the meantime, we're settling for using the map as a pirate 'scope (that can, surprisingly, only see other pirates).

Today's sunny but windy, and we've gotten an email from the library saying more of Ains' Batman books are waiting for us, so it looks like a trip to town is in the cards for today.

On our way home.

We're leaving this...

and this...

and this...

Oh, and this.

The brief vacation in the sun was so rejuvenating.

The girls are ready to go home and see their daddy. When we stopped at a McDonald's Play Place yesterday, Ains saved a seat for her daddy at the table. Hannah's goat, Beauty, kidded out while we were gone and Hannah wants to get back to take care of her and her new baby, Diamond.

So this morning, when Daddy called our hotel room, I had some very happy children.

It will be good to be home.

Zoo.

What more is there to say?

It was a long, full day. When we got there, the first thing we did was get over to the giraffe enclosure because it was feeding time. This was such a great opportunity. Mike helped the kids hold out treats and the giraffes would lean over the fence and eat it out of their hands. It was an awesome experience for all three kids.

Hannah was startled that their tongues were purple. ("They're not even turquoise!" she later told her aunt.)

Ainsley was tickled (literally) by how long the tongues were.

Grayson seemed unsure - maybe because he realized that a giraffe kiss would cover his entire face - but couldn't stop staring. He was very unhappy to leave that area.

Once we were done with that, Ainsley took the map and started to decide where we should go.

Each girl had animals they wanted to see, and they both got to see all of them.

Hannah got to see her lions, tigers, and anteaters.

Ainsley got to see her elephants, zebras, and - her favourite animal - toucans.

Look close - they're up there.

Me? I was just happy that this zoo was obviously built with kids in mind. There were little cubbyholes everywhere holding little creatures.

Scattered throughout the zoo were animals that kids could climb on.

And in.

And on.

And explore.

There was even a 'petting zoo' that was low on variety. Only goats. My kids were so excited about that.

Can you see the excitement? Yeah. "We have deez at home." said Ainsley.

There were little playgrounds scattered everywhere which were great places to let kids run unfettered for a bit.




We even found places to sit and just be for a little bit.

Though this tranquil moment ended when Gray decided to try to jump into the pond - but that's a story for another post.

The next part of the zoo was very exciting (truly). It was a 'monkey village'. You walked into an enclosure and these little spider monkeys were everywhere. The picture below was taken without a zoom lens.

They were running and jumping and swinging all around you. It was fantastic.

By the end of the day, we'd seen more animals than I could remember and we were all completely exhausted.

Oh, I have to show you this picture because it makes me laugh. At the moment I took the picture, Hannah was pretending to be The Little Mermaid, Gray was trying to decide whether a running jump off the log was a good idea, and Ains was saying "Wook, Mommy! I Queen of all da kids in da WOOOLD!!!"

On our way out, we stopped at the carousel. Hannah and Ains each chose sea creatures the first time around - a sea horse and dolphin respectively.

Gray chose to sit on the stationary bench with me once his shark started moving.

On the second time around, Ains chose a zebra. She wanted to bring it home with her.

Today I went to IKEA for the first time with my sister and my feet hurt from all the walking I did yesterday added onto the walking we did in IKEA. That store's almost as big as the zoo (Not really. But kinda. But not even close. But it's BIG!!!).

It was a wonderful day and now my kids want to go to the zoo closer to home. It's not nearly as nice, and it's a lot colder this time of year. They'll have to wait.

Always a day behind.

And today won't be any different. I'll tell you about today's fun tomorrow, when my eyes aren't glassing over from exhaustion.

Yesterday my sister and I went to a small market in the area. The girls bought mini-cheesecakes from a sweets vendor which they thought was tons of fun (mini-cheesecakes are fancy and Hannah's still trying to teach Ains the importance of that) and Gray had several mini-meltdowns. Being away from home isn't as carefree for him as it was for his sisters at the same age.

Then, when the cousins got home, we went to a World Market. Such a fun store. Hannah and I found some ideas for lighting in the kid's flower garden this summer.

Wouldn't those be pretty? Everyone kind of gravitated to the international chocolates aisle and milled there for awhile. I got some early Easter supplies and a sweet little mini-globe that I would like to have floating around our house.

When we got home, the kids went directly to the trampoline in the back yard without passing Go or collecting $200 (not that they would have had much of a chance of that had they tried). This is where they get rid of so much of their energy. I tried to get some pictures, but they were getting rid of a lot of energy.







The girls are so good with Gray in there. All he wants to do is run in circles as fast as he can, and if he can do that while they're bouncing around him, it's all the more fun.

Let me show you one of my favorite views since I've been here. From my sister's patio, you can see an orange tree in the yard behind hers...

and a lemon tree a few doors down.

We don't have local citrus in Idaho.

Day Four - Cactuses, Craft supplies, and Cuddling.

When we were within thirty minutes of Phoenix I started hearing cries of "Cactuses!!!",

and "Palm trees!"

Much more excitement from these two things than I expected.

Today the girls and I went for a long, meandering walk around the neighborhood while Gray napped. We got to see both plants up close.

There are a *lot* of different varieties.

And Arizona landscaping is very, very different than what I'm used to.




The girls enjoyed themselves so much. They discovered new flowers,

very large pineapples,

and crafting supplies. (Those are rocks and flowers in her hands. I was carrying huge dried pieces of palm bark filled with many other treasures for her.)

Some very big crafting supplies.

I'm glad we drove - we couldn't fit that on a plane.

And when we got home, there was cuddling.

Have I mentioned how much I love being here?