Monkey Face

Before the cooler weather came we hiked up "monkey face" in Upper Bidwell Park with some friends.  It is such a great hike-especially because my boys love to just run up the hill, and it isn't to hard for them.  These are pictures from the top, next time I will take a picture of the part that looks like a monkeys face!

An exciting "pi" day!

Today was filled with excitement on all levels!  First off I let the boys play outside cuz it wasn't raining,  they off course played in the huge mud puddle in the front of the house, which is totally fine with me, but I forgot to tell Adam to take his shoes off before he came in the house, so this is what I got.  Adam felt really bad and did a really good job cleaning it up!

 Kenzie wanted to make a pie for pi day (3.14)  Luckily I had wanted to make an apple pie for FHE, but Richard made something else instead, so I had all the ingredients (that never happens), so Kenzie got to make her pie.

 Andrew really wanted to make something too, so we used the left over pie dough to make cinnamon rolls, like where he kept wiping his hands!  (His clothes were so muddy I stripped him right when he walked in the door and he could care less about wearing clothes, and his underwear on the correct way for that matter)

Looks Yummy!

Another Adam in the Kitchen

Adam and Andrew really love to help make dinner.  Adam also really loves eggplant, every time we go grocery shopping he wants me to buy one.  I don't really have many eggplant recipes, so when we saw one on TV the other day we had to try it.  It is from Lidias Italy on PBS and it is stuffed eggplant.  It has chicken sausage, yellow peppers, italian parsley, and of course parmesean cheese.  It was pretty good, I am not a huge eggplant fan, but I want the kids to try all the veggies they want to, and each time I cook it I like it a little more.  Although I couldn't eat it everyday!  I'm so lucky my kids love to eat their veggies!

A cool weekend with cool Uncle Nic

A couple of weekends ago my sister Lesley came out from Utah with her family and my brother Nic planned a "cool uncle day".  He has been collecting mini-quads and he and his friend fixed them all up, so the nieces and nephews could ride.  Adam and Kenzie LOVED it!  Adam rode the quad until it was out of gas.  It was quite a party.  There was about 4 quads running at all times, some where bigger so the adults would give the kids rides, then he had a little motorcycle too.  You totally looked like a clown when riding it, but it was still fun!  After the quad riding we had a huge bon fire to roast hot dogs and smores!  Thanks Uncle Nic and Aunt Mindy for the fun weekend!  

Adam on the "midi-quad" that is what it said on the side, we thought that was funny!  Adam liked it so much Nic let him bring the quad home.  He hasn't gotten in much riding because we don't have a motorcycle helmet yet, but he sits on it and does "tricks".

Cool Uncle Nic with following Andrew on the powerwheels tractor, that was more his speed.

Aunt Mindy giving Kenzie a ride, Kenzie got pretty brave riding he quad and would ride it all the way down the driveway and back.

My brother Kyle riding the little motorcycle!  (he is a cool uncle too!!)

Running Anyone...

Richard and his friend Jacob have run a few races in the last couple months.  In January they ran one called the "Frost or Fog" which was a quarter marathon in upper Bidwell Park. It was a really beautiful day, and we drove around to different spots to cheer them on.

 This girl is so awesome, I want to be like her someday, Her name is Liberty and she is running the quarter marathon.   She is so cute and happy, and just loves to run.  She ran it in 55 minutes!

 The "after" picture.  They were really happy with their finish!

 Race #2 was just last Saturday in Lower Bidwell Park, the Bidwell Classic Half-Marathon.  They found out that their friend Eric had been training by himself, so he started running with them about a month ago.

 The beginning, obviously, they are still totally happy and excited!

 It was another beautiful day, I love walking in the park and meeting up with them at different places to cheer them on.  The boys brought their bikes, and Adam rode with Richard for about 200 yards at this point, which was almost the middle.  Still looking pretty good.

 Jacob in the middle, Andrew tried to chase Jacob down which made him laugh!

 Richard at the finish, yes he wears those crazy toe shoes!  They have been the best thing for him, he had totally given up running because of some knee pain that the dr. couldn't figure out why it was happening.  He could only run a couple miles without pain.  He read about these shoes and tried them out and has been running for about a year in them with absolutely no pain at all!

The end!  They sure look tired!  But watching them the last couple races has really made me miss running.  I stopped about a year and a half ago and now I really really want to start again!  Maybe I will run in a race next year!

Popcorn Popping...

Thanks to my friend Diane, who gave me an old camera cord, I downloaded about 200 pics yesterday, are you ready!!!  Just kidding.

It is spring in Chico, which I have decided is probably my favorite season, especially living by the park where I get to see amazing trees in bloom every morning.  I took a couple pictures of one of my favorites that I drive by every morning.  I think it was the inspiration for the song "Popcorn Popping"!