Not Having Much Fun...

We took a lightning quick trip to my parents' place this weekend.  My sister-in-law harvested the new world record elk killed with a black powder gun  - whose horns resemble that of a triceratops - and it was finally all ready for its' debut.  Since Ryan has the moment he first laid eyes on the beast "etched in his memory forever" we thought we'd take a trip to see it and celebrate and spend some time with Grandparents and cousins.

The weather.  You guys.  I know I've been yammerin' on about it for days, but I can't even?  I do hope this means the snow will fly all March and April because as I previously mentioned, I'm an old fart at heart, and I worry about things like water come summer time.  But you can't call me a complete Debbie Downer cause holy moly, I am out enjoying every minute of it with the littles while it lasts.

They played, played and played with just a brief intermission of climbing up the biggest evergreen on my parent's property.  I was a tinge nervous, but not gonna lie, they're pretty fearless and hardy little creatures and my mama heart is catching on.  {Finally}

We stayed one night and apparently, I revert to my childhood self and sleep like a baby when I'm staying at my childhood house.  Ace woke up at 1 am and walked into my parent's room where he brusquely proclaimed, "I'm not having very much fun right now."

My mom jumped up and took care of business rocking him and consoling him and then she tried to put him in bed with his older brothers who adamantly told her he was NOT welcome in their bed.  They're the sharing caring type at 1 am.  And finally he laid down in the crib and started dreaming of a time when he was having more fun.

The next day they reported the night's shenanigans and my mom said, "I thought maybe you guys had decided to head off to a hotel and make a night of it or something."  Ha Ha -- But now that I know that's on the table - I'll be seeing you soon Days Inn.  :)  But really evenings unwinding with this crew aren't too shabby if I do say so myself. 

And that is the weekend in summary here on a hump day because nothing lets people know you're on your A-Game like a timely report like that.

Punxsutawney Got it Wrongy...

I don't know about that old ground hog.

Looking at the weather around here lately -- he got it sooo wrong.

Not that I'm complaining or anything.

OK Wait, my inner Grandma is stressing out about water here in our desert home, but my present day mama-self is thrilled to have little buddies that entertain themselves all day out in the sunshine with nary a jacket to be found.  It's a conundrum of sorts.

And so, we bring you, kite fest USA right here on our very own street with an entire neighborhood full of kids and four dollar store kites + one legit kite.

{You can bet which ones we owned, right?}

I was so proud of Kael to get the party started and to share his kites with all our little friends.

He was pretty proud of himself too.

Dax ran rampant up and down the street with his little suspenders flying in the wind.  I would insert a few heart emojis right here if I could.

Even Ace Face and his Captain America hair got the hang of things.

And then the sun set and they all went their separate ways.

And it was a pretty gorgeous spring day in February...
Sorry Punx.... better luck next year.

Prepositions...

Turns out - one must REALLY clarify with little boys when it comes to those darn prepositions.

The devil is actually in the details.

Let's take earlier this week for example.  The boys were outside in the back yard playing like champs together.  Really they were playing sooo well for sooo long I began to get suspicious.

(That's a boy mom tip for you right there.)

Luckily for me, two outta three of them came in for a drink break and I asked them what they'd been up to.  "We're just playin' BY the shed, " Dax informed me.  Cool.  Sounds infinitely lame, but if they were happy I was happy.

After a while longer my uninterrupted self had accomplished all I'd set out to do and then some, (because its fascinating how much a mom can accomplish on her own for twenty minutes straight),

so I made my way out the back yard to the shed --

To find this.

English language lesson here... that is actually ON the shed.  Pesky prepositions.

See what I mean?

Maybe they've forgotten that they are 3, 4 and 5.  (!!!)

Maybe they were just showing me how bright the future looks in the "raisin' hell" department?

(Heaven help me)

Maybe they didn't actually see one another use every part of their little bodies to transfer themselves precariously from the fence, to the edge of the roof of the shed.  No joke, Ace must have prayed that his cheek had enough "stick" in the form of natural skin oils to give him momentary "gription" to then flail a boot up and subsequently pull himself the remainder of the way up?

I almost had a heart attack watching his accent.  

SO, anywho... word the wise: Watch those prepositions very carefully.

Especially with those little people with a Y chromosome.

Just Like Animals...

You know what is completely underrated?

The zoo -- 

In the middle of winter --

Or at least this during this insanely warm winter we've been having here.

 We loaded up our own little lion cubs and headed out this past weekend and it was perfection.

The morning was a little brisk, but then things warmed up to 45 degrees and the sun hit our shoulder blades and it was niiiicccce, folks.

Total bonus...Every single animal except the tiger and the bears were awake and putting on a good show for my little crew.  That NEVER happens when we go in the sweltering 90 degree summer heat.

 

So we soaked it all in and posed when appropriate. 

 

Heavy on the posing, of course.

 

The cheetah paced back and forth right in front of us, drooling through the fence at a bird.

My little tiger lover was completely transfixed.  

Then we made the trek up the hillside and came down to two of our favorites... 

"Kevin" and the gorillas.

If you haven't seen UP, easily one of the boys' favorite movies, you might not understand that joke.

Here's a picture of Kev, whom we did not feed chocolate to, but we did try to communicate with through various bird calls in a plethora of pitches.  My poor ears.

There was one big monkey playing peek-a-boo under his blanket as he lay on a pile of burlap sacks.  I just knew he was going to jump up and go all "ape shiz" on me... but alas, he lazed away.

Thankfully.

I'm kind of terrified/oddly fascinated by these big beasts.

The same could be said of the motley crew below.  {Hardy Har Har}

It does seem my little monkeys keep growing despite my protests.

They're disobedient little cusses... I tell them STAY LITTLE and it falls on deaf ears. 

{Ace is certainly acting like a juvenile here... more like a juvenile delinquent.  Sigh}

Hey, Hey They're the Monkeys!

 

We can't ever go to this joint without a ride on the carousel.   

I guess it's worth the extra couple bucks.  :) 

Looking for something to do in this mild weather?

Here's your sign.

The End.

Come on now... Kael's hind end was the perfect punctuation to this post, eh?!