Woohoo for Weekends!

Our lives have been under a cloud of business stresses that began in the winter, continued through the Spring (I think we had a Spring, but really it was just a longer, wet winter) and now into Summer (which really has become the Spring we didn't really have -make sense?).

So during the summer, when I normally would have had sometimes two days  IN A ROW to fill with fun summer stuff, now Mondays  mean a full day at the high school.  Tuesdays are devoted to one or both of my other home and business based jobs.  Wednesdays usually bring changing plans as something comes up at the business.  Thursdays and Friday generally are continuations of whatever shook things up on Wednesday.  Sometimes a little summer break can be squeezed in on Thursday or Friday, but if it is planned that's a sure sign it will have to be canceled.

If this sounds bleak, it is.  What saves me are the weekends.

For instance:

Watching a Four Year Old Show off his New Bike Riding Skills!

 J, the grandkidlet Cougar, has learned to ride a bike without training wheels!  Very proud boy, very proud parents (note Dad running along behind ready to catch!)

Getting Down and Dirty

 Moving mulch may not seem like fun for some people, but I enjoy getting outside and making the yard look better.  We got the bed of my Toyota filled with dark mulch and I emptied it into wheelbarrows for a couple of hours while Hubby was hanging my plants off the deck.  Today S was "helping!"

Celebrating Grandma's Birthday at the Park

We wanted to go take Grandma to dinner for her birthday and invited the fam to join us, but after some discussion, we agreed to have a picnic at a park near at the mouth of a local canyon.  J, the BBQ'r, made us some delicious pork, beef and chicken and everyone else brought a side dish.  It was a lovely evening.

 

Naturally the "triplets" were drawn to the fire pit, which, fortunately was not hot.

 Grandma and the lovely cake her former visiting teacher has made for her for at least twenty years.  N and J were happy to get their share.

I like this picture of three generations walking hand in hand!

 

Baby I who had created quite an explosion just before a walk up to the waterfall, so he got a diaper change in the trunk of the car and some face time with his Nana (who must have a stupid looking face to elicit this grin!)

 

 There were just a few of us who made the trek.  S and J, the 2nd Ute, A and her sons J and I (in the baby carrier), Hubby and son J, the Cougar, with Z in a backpack.

 Even in this small stream, the water was ferocious!

 We found a "bear cave" and S encouraged J to go inside with her.  But he refused because it smelled so bad in there!  Or at least that was their excuse....!

 I love being so close to the mountains with views like this.  And if you're ever in a canyon at dusk, there is a lovely breeze that always comes down toward the valley.  It's truly a breath of fresh air!

 We made it up to the falls, about a 1/2 mile walk

 J, the 2nd Ute and J, had fun in the mist on the slippery rocks.

 Z LOVES his daddy and totally enjoyed the trip.

 Although Hubby is not the greatest hiking fan, he enjoyed it, too and we were happy to have him up there with us.

 Most of the trip I had a special little partner. We talked about alot of important things like how crickets make those squeaky sounds, and why it gets windy in the canyon.  Yes, I provided incredible words of wisdom from my many years of life!  I'm sure he won't remember the details, but I sure hope he remembers the love!

Fathers' Day Weirdness

I love that even though we celebrated Fathers' Day on the 2nd Sunday when the fam comes over anyway, several of them wanted to spend time with Dad again the next Sunday. 

Not all things on this day were actually weird, just a few.  So I'll start with the not weird

 

 Not weird #1 - giving kids a ride on a four wheeler.  If you could bottle up the squeals of delight and form a "happiness elixir" to sell you'd get rich!

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Not weird # 2 - S found a fun seat.  She almost always has this pleasant smile on her face

 Weird #1 - the birdies in the BBQ!

 Weird #2 - the crazy BBQ'r who thinks smoked baby bird is a funny idea!

 Weird #3 - okay, this isn't really SO weird.  It was Fathers' Day and Hubby got some shoulder and foot massage.  He thought he'd died and gone to heaven.

Very weird #4 - Son-in-law with tweezers approaching ear hair.  Nuff said!

Scary Weird #5 - Daughter M enjoying the ear hair plucking AND teaching her daughter the weirdness!

 Weird #6 - this is more cute than weird.  S and Z like squeezing into the ottomon like two peas in a pod!

  

Weird #7 - three grandkidlets, a daughter and son poking, pushing, plucking and prodding and Hubby loving it!  Nice weird!

Maybe I should rename this blog to the Weird Happenings of the Anderson Family.  But then, every family does weird stuff.  Our weird stuff just speaks lots of love!