Pumpkin Patch 2014

We have a whole summer's worth of pictures to share because we haven't been blogging very reliably. I might share them kind of randomly, but meanwhile, here's some more recent pictures from Amy's class field trip to the pumpkin patch at Linder Farms. 

The kids rode a hayride behind a tractor to get out to the pumpkin patch. The farmer's rule was that the kids could choose any pumpkin, but they had to be able to carry it themselves.

Amy's only goal was to find the tiniest pumpkin in the patch for her very own.

I think she found it. It was super tiny and had a long curly stem. She was very proud.

The kids added their pumpkins to a class wheelbarrow to bring back to the farm. 

Then they got to play on the playground of a huge hay bale pyramid and lots of tractor tires.

Amy is so little, she could almost get lost in this hay bale maze. It was a little more than knee high.

Our girl likes any small place to crawl in. This was her "raccoon den"

Can you see me?

I got my pumpkin!!

Best neighborhood ever

We have been spending a lot of time with our neighbors lately. We loved Boise already, but with this recent bloom of friendship, it feels like such a very good fit for us. 

Tonight we had a super fun (and DELICIOUS!!!) cookout at S and T's house. After dinner we took a little nature walk with the kids. 

This adorable little path goes around the pond and is full of tracks to look at and rocks to throw in the water.

BIG rocks

O, E, and Amy chucking rocks in the lake. They scared the shit out of a great blue heron.

 Along the edge of the lake, they're clearing land for the new park that is going in. Right now, there are some glorious dirt piles. The big kids scrambled up them. Amy used a little boost from her friends, but she worked so hard to get up.

Thanks Shana! 

She really was using all her little might

Looking back from the top with surprise and pride.

I did it!!!!

This is the path through the neighborhood to the pond. Suddenly there's green green grass there. It's been so grey this winter, and it's dusty dry in the summer.

nature girl

What a fun way to spend the evening.

A Capital day at the capitol

Today we had an outing full of Boise adventures. We started at Edwards greenhouses where we watched a painting class and Amy showed us how to moonwalk.

We tried out the adirondack chairs for as long as we could get away with it.

We bought some hyacinths and then headed over to the co-op for lunch. Rob had a burrito (of course), and Amy and I hit up the lunch bar. And the cookies.

Then we walked over to the statehouse to tour around.

It's very pretty close up.

Looking down under the dome is a cool open rotunda.

Amy liked shouting YooHoo!! at everyone below.

Inside the dome. How can I get to those little stairs up there? I really really want to.

We checked out the house side which was all blue.

Even the doorknobs have the state seal on them. Cool!

This is the gallery of the senate side.  All red. 

This is a funny door in the basement marked "lobbyists" but it has this huge bank vault outer door. I don't get it, but I think it's funny.

This is outside the statehouse. It's just a modern office building but it reflected the building nicely.

Got a little sunshine today

Thor!

We had the flu. I didn't blog for a long time. Want to know what we've been up to?

Well, one night, Thor came by.  He left his hammer, Mjolnir. Amy loved it. It is good for flying, for nailing things, and for smashing frost giants, which often end up in her room.  The next day, Thor came by at night and left his cape, so that Amy could practice being Small Thor.  In these shots, she is using Mjolnir to smash holes in the earth.

Smash!!

dragon in hand

Do you see my cape???

Mjolnir! To me!

Smash the whole neighborhood!!

Idasnow

One thing I missed blogging about was our first Idaho winter. WE LOVE IT!!! It was verrrry cold in late November (-5 degrees one morning!!!) but now it is mostly in the mid 30s. It's plenty wintry, but it feels very manageable after that cold snap.  We've had a couple of snows and there's still snow around in patches.  That's pretty cool. I've never seen snow last for more than a few days before. I hope we get another big big snow storm.  Even if we don't, it's pretty neat to be able to drive a short distance up to the ski hill where there's lots of snow and lots of ways to play in it.

Here we are on our way to Christmas eve mass

Santa came!

This is a group selfie from a sledding trip.

Here Amy is holding an icicle she found. She is keeping it in the freezer inside. Is it fair to use your kid's icicle to make drinkies?

Christmas tree! In Snow!!. Yeah, these pictures are out of order.

This was a super cold night out looking at the lights at the Botanical Gardens with Jocelyn and Jacobi. It was an incredible display.

Amy's favorite snow activity is to make and follow footprints. Here, she's tracking cat prints. Probably a vicious snow tiger...or Orbit.

Snowy house with Christmas lights. Dan in the doorway.

Skiing down the street. I mean, come on!

New Year New Blog

The best way to come back from months and months of not blogging is just to jump right back in, right? Is anybody still out there?
We found that keeping the blog was a good way to keep up with what was going on ourselves, plus it was a nice place to post and share pictures.  It's like a family letter and a diary at the same time. I still don't have anything particularly profound to write about, but I do have Rob and Amy and all their antics, so I'll try to share that again.
Here are the pictures I took of Amy in October.  See, I was on top of things. Ahead of the game. Ready for adorable, fancy Christmas cards with pictures of my sweet girl on them. Instead, if you got a card at all, it was a regular store bought card with no picture. Gasp! How can we be modern parents without a card with a picture??? Because I didn't get around to it and it didn't happen. And it was fine and nobody died. Actually, it felt kind of good in mid December when Rob was working long days and weekends to say screw it, regular cards or no cards. Ahhhh. Maybe we will do a little bit more of that in 2014. This is Keeping Up With the Joneses afterall, and WE are the Joneses.