Mushiness

Well, we're taking guesses on what day the ice will go out.  My guess is one week from today - April 18th.  Eric's guess is April 16th.  It made major progress today.  Our bay is nearly all melted.

And this little pile here is what was left of our final (knock on wood) snowstorm.  It melted today.  Good riddance!

The kids spent a lot of time wrestling each other today.  This isn't exactly what I meant when I said, "go play."  Oh well.

Ohhhh to have the complexion of a toddler!  It's not fair!!!

For some reason, this mask has been getting a lot of face time.  Pun intended.  They both think it's hilarious!

My ZIN (Zumba Instructor Network) 32 DVD arrived today, so we worked on our dancing skills.  Clearly, the mask was needed.  Gives the dancing a little more flair.

There is just something about latin music that makes them want to move.  They always stop what they are doing when they hear Zumba music come on.

I love Avery in this one.  She favors the Raggaeton rhythm and when she hears a song she really likes or knows, she gets pretty crazy.

After dancing, we went out to check on nature.  Since the ice is going out, the wildlife are providing us with more entertainment than usual.  You'll be happy to hear that we have seen a loon - so it looks like they didn't get oiled up in the gulf like we had feared.

The stuff you see in the water is ice chunks breaking off of the main mass of ice.  Its NOT weeds.  Yet.

Iceberg!  Dead ahead!  If you look closely, you can see 2 fools on the ice fishing.  See them?  They are the 2 specks directly above the right side of the iceberg.

Avery is loving the slide this year.  I'm just hoping that the grass dries up pretty soon cuz they both got pretty muddy from their boots getting mud all over the slide and then their butts sliding into the mud from their boots.  I'm soooooo not a fan of spring mushiness.

Finally, I was able to distract them away from the mushiness to go for a wagon ride.

It didn't last long and they made me turn around to go home.  I've been waiting for Avery to be able to sit on the well cap!  2 years ago I took a picture of Dylan sitting on it while Avery was baking' away in my belly.  Now here she sits.

Well, that is all for now!  Chuck is all new tonight, so I've got a date with the couch and my husband!  Later!

Picture Perfect Day

Dylan and I took advantage of the warm weather and an unusually long nap from Avery and headed outside this afternoon.  I think it was the warmest it's been all year today.  Our snow is finally almost gone and the ice is looking heavier and heavier each day.  Summer is coming people!  Look alive!

What is crazy is there was a pickup out on the ice this morning. I mean, this ice looks really not safe.  I just don't understand the logic (or lack there of) behind that.

As usual, we had to make use of the camera timer - our favorite!  We did a few yoga poses together here too, but I was able to capture some better ones later on (see below).

Yeah, so he's wearing shorts already.  He was wanting to try on his new summer clothes today and then he refused to take them off when I told him we were going outside.  I tried!

He has NOT outgrown the "I don't want to smile nicely for you" phase yet.  Boo.

Still pretty cute though.

And here was yoga time.  I thought the bright sun would create a nice contrast with the ice and I was right!  Fabulous!

He ditched me!  Waah!

Then Avery got up and the sun went behind the clouds.  Lame!  (the clouds, not Avery)

As usual, Avery was not into the "stand by your brother and smile" directions.  She never likes my ideas!

This idea was fun for ohhhh about 1 minute.  And then it made her mad.

This idea made her mad too.

See, MAD!

Much better!

The swingset is surrounded by water, so I did NOT like THIS idea.  MUD.  Grrrrrrr.

BUT - guess who learned how to pump!?!  Finally!

Our neighbor Ingrid is going to be so proud when she returns from Mexico.  She tried to convince him to learn how to swing on his own last summer but he was having no part of it.

That's all for today!  No food for you!  I've been making things, but nothing worth noting.  I did make some pretty awesome chimichangas, but didn't take a picture.  Perhaps next time!   We are off to the cities tomorrow so Eric can go to the Frozen Four.  So, see ya later!

Spring has sprung!

WHAT IS THIS!?!  Almost can't even believe my eyes!  And he had FRIENDS too!  Light at the end of the tunnel, I tell you.

Yes, I decided it was time I get outdoors.  Winter is about over (I think) so I can come out of hibernation now.

We took a "nice" one first, but of course - the "nice" one didn't turn out.  Was blurry. So here is the "silly" one.

No one tells the Avos she can't walk in puddles.

Or Dylan, I guess.

Tonight we had blackened fish tacos.  These were really good!  The recipe is here and its from Cooking Light's March 2011 edition.  I used catfish instead of tilapia (I didn't mean to, but thats what I ended up with!) and it turned out awesome.  The sauce that the onions are supposed to chill in for a bit was on the mild side, so next time I think I'd try adding some chipotle pepper to it instead of the jalapeno pepper.  Other than that, this was pretty good.  For the kids, they just had fish with cheese on their tortillas and they seemed to like it.  I think this would be good with some salsa, rice and black beans too!  Can't wait to make them again and experiment a little!

And then after we were done eating, they kids took their pony out for a ride.  Always a good time.  For the camera person and the riders, anyway. ; )

Well, that's all from me!