Picnic At The Playground

Since rainy season has started here, we have to take advantage of the weather when we can get out. One day last week, the rain was lingering in the air and the humidity was brutal, it's around 90% here on a daily basis now.. BUT, the kids needed to get some energy out, and I packed up some lunch and we took their bikes and went to the playground a bit further away from our house for a couple of hours of play before the rain would start.

Juice, sandwiches, grapes were eaten before the playing began.

So cute sitting there together, discussing what they would play and on what they would go first while eating away on their sandwiches.

Then, it didn't take long until it started to rain, but instead of running for cover, these two "desert kids" put their faces toward the sky and had a blast with the raindrops on their faces! I guess that the excitement for rain after three years living in the desert does that to you! It might be less exciting after the first rainy season is over here!

And when the rain made a tiny puddle in the bottom of the slide, they had a blast splashing it on each other with little sticks! Water is always fun - it doesn't matter if in the ocean, pool or from the sky!

Another Sunny Day In The Park

Well, what have we been doing this week? Well, other than the everyday never ending laundry (seriously, how much laundry can 5 people possible accumulate??), dishes, cleaning up toys all over the floor, preparing and cooking of all the meals, cleaning kitchen and floors, showers and bath times, endless negotiating with strong willed toddlers, braking up fights, kissing (the wounds of the one who lost the fight..) bumped heads and scratched up knees, practicing letters, numbers, keeping the kids activated with puzzles, games, reading and telling stories at least 5 times/day, singing and having dance parties while cooking, folding laundry while checking homework and catching up with the oldest about school and friend stuff, running errands, taking care of our bunny, putting tired kids to bed, and then finally around 10pm get some ME time with the rest of the laundry to fold on the sofa to catch up on some DVR show or spend some time here on the computer. Most of these days we have also spent many hours outside in the beautiful weather.

Our time is now! We have to use these days wisely!! The winter in the desert is when we are finally living outside of our homes, where it's warm and nice, but not hot and sweaty and you actually can spend hours outside. In the desert it's a bit different to the other places where we have lived, where the summer days were the days where we would use the days to do all the stuff that we wanted, as you don't know how long the weather will stay good for or how many more weeks the sun will shine..

Here, most of our summers are spent indoors, as extended outdoor activities aren't possible when it's close to 120F/50C. And as you all know, summer is LONG here in Arizona. We are now enjoying the temperatures of about 75-80F/25-30C and it won't be long before they start to climb over to the more dreadful degrees, where we are bound most of the days to the indoors with the blasting air conditioners and ceiling fans on every day....

This week we've been to this newly found playground a couple of times, and the kids love it. The first time when we were there, I was thinking to myself that the sidewalk that goes around the whole grass area, is perfect for the kids to run their bikes on. They love their bikes and they have been practicing close to every day, and they are doing really good. Around the house, there are no good sidewalks, and riding on our street (even if calm) it's a constant running around, and checking for me, to make sure that both kids are doing alright, and that no cars are coming from any direction. So to have them riding their bikes here, where it's flat and with no interfering with others or with any traffic, is great!

I don't know how far it is, but it's quite a bit to get around the field. Especially for their little legs, it's a lot to get around once, and they normally go around 4 times each when we are there, if not more.

The other day when my friend Pamela and her son Calvin came along with us, I had my camera with me to get a few good shots of the kids, and Pamela got a few good ones of us too!! Enjoy the pictures and if you live where it's snow outside your windows...enjoy the sunshine!! I wish it would be greener and more colorful pictures, but the grass here isn't green and the rest is pretty sand and beige...The sky is always blue though!!

Isabella's trainer wheel got over the edge and she fell down, not hurting herself though but checking out the flower until I came over to her to walk with her.

"Are you coming mamma?"

The second time around they went, Ben went so fast that he was done far ahead of Bella. I told him to try to catch up with her, and he said he'll try. Biking on his own, really good, and in the last curve, he was getting closer and closer, until he was just behind her....

...and just by the "finish line" where the tables were and where I was standing at this point, he caught up with her and passed!

A lot of drinks are needed after biking and playing!

It will take some time until they are tall enough to reach up to the drinking fountain!

It was a great day, and we continued to play at the playground and on the field for quite some time before it was time to pack up and go home before Cassie would be there with the bus. I took some pictures of them playing so nice together with the Frisbee, but those I'll have to post another day!

My Little Bikers

Benjamin and Isabella got bikes for Christmas, and they love to ride their bikes. Even if they haven't been riding on a tricycle that much, or hardly at all, they picked it up after just the second time we took the bikes out. Isabella is still a little bit slower than Benjamin, not so much that she can't ride, but that she still thinks that "it's a bit wobbly mommy!" Ben, on the other hand, is riding his bike that he named "Rocket" super fast, and I've been practicing a lot of "brake" and "stop" with him, before he takes off too far ahead down the street, when I'm back with Isabella and her "Sea Star". They are both doing great, and I have many pictures from when they ride and I have to dig out the first video I shot on day 2, to show daddy how well they were doing! I have to post that here, so family can have a look! Almost everyday we are out for a while, to keep the interest up and to enjoy the weather, soon enough it will be too hot to stay longer periods of time outside.. These pictures are a couple of weeks old, many more from their happy bike rides will follow here and there.

The concentration is high! Keep looking far ahead!

After awhile it got too hot under the helmet in the sun, and the kids were happy to see the neighbor's sprinkler system kicking off, so they could cool off in the mist on the side walk!

Cooling off in sprinklers on a normal winter day in the beginning of January? Yes, that's how we rule here in the desert....