THE BIG 5-0

On Sunday, my lovely husband turned 50 years old. It is quite an accomplishment to be half a century old, but he looks great and one can't really tell that he just became the youngest member of AARP. 

Of course, we needed to decorate for this special occasion and made a special cake too:

The kids were preparing to surprise him for days and were so excited to finally sing "happy birthday" to the birthday boy:

And there were gifts too: Amelia hand painted him a coffee mug and Elliot chose some hot sauce and new spices for his Daddy. And from me he received a pair of dress shoes and a gift certificate towards his laser eye surgery.

Making a wish and blowing out his candle:

We didn't do a big party for his birthday but rather spent it together as a family. Since the kids wanted to go strawberry picking and the weather was great, we decided to that on Derrick's birthday. We went to Patterson Farms. There was a little wagon ride for the kids, farm animals to feed (lots of baby goats, ducklings and lambs) and a milking station. 

But the highlight were the yummy, ripe strawberries on the field. I think we ate (I brought a water spray bottle to clean them off) as many as we picked to take home.

 

 

We finished the birthday bash off with a BBQ in the backyard and some family cuddle time on the couch.

Despite it being a fairly laid-back day, my birthday boy enjoyed himself and we are so blessed to call him ours.                  

  HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY, my Love!  And to many, many more fun-filled and crazy years!!!

Savoring spring and being outdoors

Since the weather has been so beautiful over the past week, we were outside a lot. My kids love to explore the outdoors; dig in the dirt and race around on a playground. Especially, Elliot who has no fear riding as fast as he can go on his motorcycle or climbing on things as high as he can reach:

Amelia is getting good at riding a scooter:

Both children love to help us in the yard. They can pick weeds, rake leaves, water plants or pick up sticks. It's a team effort but the yard definitely looks nice now. And our reward is freshly picked strawberries from the garden.

Over the past 2 weeks, Amelia's class was also busy planting seeds and growing seedlings. Here, the girls are prepping their containers and sowing their cantaloupes/ watermelons and grass. Amelia planted 2 cantaloupes and was able to bring them home this week to transfer them to our garden. 

Yesterday, we visited a friend who owns a couple of goats, a horse, two pigs and some chickens. There were also some baby chicks, only a few days old, which the kids were allowed to hold. Did I mention that I would love to own some chickens and a goat. So do my kids. They would love to live on a farm. Maybe one day, we will get to pursue that dream.

After that we took our cat, Indy, for her annual check-up to the vet. Amelia declared that she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up and was eager to help with Indy. The vet was very sweet and let her listen to the cat's heart and calm her down before the vaccinations.

Speaking of vaccinations, Amelia had to get two this morning. She wasn't too happy about it but knew it had to be done. She even thanked the nurse afterwards...my sweet little girl.

And Elliot, he is just doing fine. On Sunday, we sold his crib and changing table and since then, he is sleeping on a twin mattress. He didn't mind the change at all and seems quite happy in his bigger bed. After the summer, he will be transferred to a real bed.

This past weekend, our town held their annual food truck festival in downtown. Since it was so nice out, we decided to meet up with some friends, listen to some live music and try some different foods. It quickly got crowded and we only tried some quesadillas and hot dogs (for the kids), but it was fun nonetheless. To cool off, Amelia and Elliot enjoyed their first snow cone of the season.  

As you can tell, if it's not raining, we are outside and loving it. This spring season has been off to a great start and we are savoring every minute of it. I will leave you with a silly picture of the kids that just screams "Spring is here!"

Field Trip to a Ranch

On Monday, Amelia's preschool had a field trip to Lazy 5 Ranch. Lazy 5 Ranch is a local zoo with domestic and exotic animals from 6 continents as well as wagon rides and a petting area. The Ranch is privately owned and operated and its purpose is to educate in an entertaining way, to provide an excellent environment for reproduction and to help with the recovery of several endangered species. Amelia and Elliot were excited to go to the zoo and the weather was just right too (80F/ 26C). 

Before our scheduled wagon ride, we had an hour time to look around and see some of the animals. Of course, my kids went straight to the petting area to feed the goats and sheep. 

They also enjoyed petting the donkeys and llamas. 

Since it is spring time, we saw some ducklings and goslings as well as some Lemurs, kangaroos, camels, alpacas and different types of cattle.

 Amelia and most of her classmates posing in front of a giraffe statue:

Fascinated by a peacock and its pretty feathers. 

Then it was time to board our wagon, pulled by 3 strong horses, for the ride thru the free-range area:

We saw, fed and touched lots of big and small animals such as zebras, giraffes, Brahman, gnus, emus, ostriches, pigs, deer, water buffaloes, and many more.  

The animals came right up to the wagon to be fed:

Giraffe feeding: 

 

The ostrich was very fond of Amelia. And look at those beautiful blue eyes!

Someone wanted to give my little girl some sloppy kisses... the water buffalo was definitely the most impressive animal we fed.

After the wagon ride, the kids fed the remaining food to the donkeys and goats.

Then it was time for lunch and the adventure playground before we headed back home.

Everyone enjoyed this field trip and I love that parents and other family members are able to attend these special days so to we can make lasting memories with our kids.