Much to Share

I've been slacking a little on posting pictures of our Alabama adventures and we have a lot to share. Sit back and relax as you play catch up on our adventures. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll be moved. Or not. I'll try to make them somewhat chronological - not that it really matters. So without further ado, here we go:


Look closely and you'll see a web full of caterpillars. They were all over this particular tree behind our house. There were a few other trees like this too. A couple of days after this was taken, the caterpillars started leaving the trees and spreading out. They're all over our house and yard. It's been a couple of weeks and there doesn't seem to be any sign of letting up with our infestation. I can think of worse things to be infested by though. And the kids like to play with them. The boys caught a couple of caterpillars and put them in a couple of bottles with grass and sticks hoping they would build a cocoon but instead they died.




Cute picture of #3. We don't know what to do with his hair because of his self inflicted bald spot. I think we'll have to give him a buzz cut pretty soon because he's getting pretty shaggy.



Most evenings, when the weather is nice, we all go out for a walk/ride. Cade is getting pretty good at riding his little bike. He had quite an audience the other day as he rode down the sidewalk. They were impressed he could ride like that at his age. Yes, I'm bragging. That's what this blog is for.



A couple of weeks ago we went to the Monte Sano state park and hiked around. Once again, we're anxious to go back there after things green up but it was still very pretty. There were several little creeks with crystal clear water running through the area and beautiful views. It would make a perfect place for a wedding! Just saying.



Some doofus and his very handsome boys.



There's a playground in the area and I think the boys had the most fun there. They even had teeter totters or see-saws or whatever you want to call them! We all took turns playing on those. Dana and I felt compelled to explain to Kevin and Cameron how much cooler - and more dangerous - the playground equipment was when we were kids. "Back in '79, I got my arm caught in a merry-go-round and it was spinning so fast I looked like an Ewok (remember those?) flapping around the outer edge of the dadgum thing. When I finally got free I flew 200 feet and landed in a tree at the edge of a cliff! They didn't have these fancy, plastic playsets with rubber padding underneath. It was survival of the fittest back in my day, I tell you!' So anyway, here's a shot of Kevin and his crazy hair at the bottom of the aforementioned plastic slide. "And we had metal slides that were 15 feet tall and had nothing to keep you from falling off. If you managed to stay on all the way to the bottom, you didn't have any feeling in your legs because your skin was melted by the heat of the slide in the summer sun!"



This was near the end of our walk. While we were looking at some park information, Cade paused to rest on these steps. Cute photo op.



The soccer season finally got underway last weekend. My coaching debut didn't go so well for Kevin's team. We lost 5-3. Our kids played well but they were outplayed by bigger and faster kids. But I must say, Kevin (middle gray shirt) had a terrific game! I had him running the length of the field to help the offense and boost the defense. As it turned out, he was the defense. I don't know how many times he hustled back down and stopped the offense from getting a shot after they ran right through our porous defense. My favorite part was the fact that the star player on the other team failed to get the ball past my boy w/o passing. Kevin stopped him every time they went one-on-one! I couldn't have been more proud of his effort.



Cameron's team had better luck. Emphasis on luck. His team tied the other team at 2-2. Like his big bro, Cam hustled back and forth all over the field and had a great game. Cameron is one of 2 kids on his team that "gets" soccer. He was so good about getting open and passing the ball. I think I'll move him up a division next year and let him play with Kevin's team. He's honestly better than half of Kevin's team.



Easter Eve! Cade took his egg decorating very seriously.


So did Kevin. This particular egg had alternating happy and frowny faces on it.



Cameron working on his personal masterpiece.



Here's my masterpiece. Hey, it was the cracked leftover that no one wanted. Not as good as my stormtrooper egg from a few years ago though. That was a masterpiece!



EASTER MORNING!!! CANDY!!! 3 boys bouncing off the walls with their sugar rush at 6:30 in the morning!!! Please excuse Kevin and Cameron in their underwear. Longtime blogstalkers will know that's how they're always dressed. To be fair, this was taken at about 6am.



Easter egg hunt! Not many places to hide eggs in our yard, darn it.



Is this adorable or what?



Enough with being cute. This is normal for these boys.

On one of our recent walks, we found this sizable puddle with a bunch of tadpoles in it. We go back frequently to check on their growth.

We also found this bird protecting its nest. If you look closely, you can see 2 of the 3 eggs underneath it. The bird probably would have gone unnoticed but it started squawking and carrying on when Cameron walked by. We visit the bird on our walks now too and await the day we see tiny, little, fuzzy bird heads peaking out at us.

Check back soon for Cameron's birthday party pictures. He's turning 8 next Monday!!!