June 2018

Well, June wasn't quite as busy as May was, but it was still an action packed month! It's hard to even know where to begin.

We are in love with the summer weather here. We never got over 100 degrees, so even the hottest days weren't really all that bad. We spent lots of time visiting different parks around town, but the ones we frequent the most are the ones right here in our neighborhood. This day we took some kites the kids made and let them try their hand at flying. Erik was pretty excited about it, but Sharli mostly just wanted to go play on the toys at the park.

We also were still only a month into life in our new house, we did spend a lot of time working on getting settled. Maren loves trips to Walmart and Costco. Especially when I let her wear anything she wants. :)

We were still getting used to the new neighborhood and the new sights and sounds that come with it. One morning we were woken up fairly early by a strange sound. It sounded like the neighbors were burning the weeds in their back yard with a blow torch. I laid there for what felt like forever trying to figure out what I was hearing, and when I finally sat up to look out the window I nearly fell out of my bed. There, just exactly over the top of our neighbor's house, was a hot air balloon!

We grabbed clothes and shoes and ran out into the street to see what was going on. When it became clear that they were going to land right in the road a few houses away from us I went back in the house to get Erik and Sharli.

By the time the kids and I got back outside a moment later it was too late. The balloon had landed, quickly changed passengers, and taken off again. There were several other balloons floating nearby, and they all flew off together. It was so neat to get to see them so close.

Not all our adventures were quite that spontaneous though. We spent one Saturday walking the "Blue Line Trail" through downtown Carson City, which led us past lots of historic homes/buildings and taught us a little bit of the history of the area.

The trail starts at what once was a US Mint but is now the Nevada State Museum, led us all over the historic downtown.

There were parts of this walk the kids liked more than others. It really wasn't a terribly kid-friendly activity, but they were good sports and managed to have some fun along the way.

I decided to start a new blog about family-friendly things to do in and around Carson City, so the kids and I got serious about exploring the parks and other attractions around town. It's been a fun adventure! It's more of a reference blog though, and all of our more personal family stories will still end up here on Mississippi Mowers.

It turns out that the biggest and best parade of the year around here was the Carson Valley Days parade. They blocked off all of downtown Minden (a little town to the south of us) and the parade was great! The kids had a blast, and came home with SO much candy and other free junk.

I think our kids almost believe that parades happen so everyone can drive by THEM and see THEM. Not the other way around. They loved waving at and interacting with anyone who gave them the chance.

One thing we didn't count on being a problem was the cute little American flags that someone handed our kids during the parade. The next day Sharli and and Erik were rough housing and Sharli got tackled with the end of the flag stick in her mouth. We got to go meet our new doctor and get her all checked out to make sure her throat was okay. It was fine, just a big scratch, but it was more adventure than I liked!

We got our first taste of Fire Season around here when Ethan noticed a strange cloud forming on the horizon one evening. He called me out to come see it and we realized it was not a cloud. It was smoke. The hillside just a few miles from our house was on fire, and the blaze was expanding pretty quickly. It was too close to nightfall for any air support to come in, so they had to just let it burn all night and put it out in the morning. It was pretty incredible to watch the lights of the fire move across the hillside that evening.

In our quest to explore our new surroundings we've been scouring the internet and any other information sources we can get our hands on for ideas of places to go and things to do. Some have been fairly simple, like this Tot Trek organized by the city to get kids out hiking the trails. We ended up making some new friends on this little hike that have opened the door to some fun new opportunities for us.

Other activities we've gone to have been a much bigger deal. Like the Saturday we spent at the Nevada Outdoor Experience. The kids got to see and do and learn so many fun things! This rock climbing wall was the first thing we saw as we walked over from the parking lot, and the kids were in line for it in a heartbeat. We were a little surprised when Sharli ended up being the more daring of our two climbers, but they both had a marvelous time.

In addition to rock climbing, the kids got to see animal skulls, live reptiles, practice milking a cow, shooting a wrist rocket, try their hand at metal detecting, panning for gold, and even archery.

I loved how all the people running the booths were willing to get down on the kids' level and help them get the most out of the experience. Even little Maren was never denied a chance to try her hand at something unless her size was a safety concern (such as with the rock climbing wall).

And oh my heavens, all the free stuff we came home with! Hats, bags, coloring books, duck calls (mom's *favorite*), and more.

The best free thing we got that day was a free lunch. Hot dogs, soda, juice, chips. The kids were in heaven!

Erik, with his engineering mind, just HAD to see how the climbing tower could possibly be taken down and hauled away on a trailer, so when it was all over we found a shady spot and watched the tear-down of the event. Erik was totally fascinated!

One thing we didn't end up doing with our kids was to get them enrolled in swim lessons. We did, however, find out that there was a nation-wide program that would get kids into one free swim lesson on a certain day, so we headed down to our local pool and enjoyed an hour of free swim time with one on one instructors for each of the two older kids. Hopefully we'll get them into swim lessons next year, because they loved the little taste they got of it this day.

Another really fun, free event we went to was an open house at the little local airport. There was a huge variety of aircraft there, and the kids loved wandering around and looking at it all.

Of course there was more free junk to bring home, which is always exciting (at least for the kids).

The same day as the airport open house, the Children's Museum was having a free admission day, so we decided to swing by there and check it out. It's one of the smaller children's museums we've been to, but it was still a lot of fun!

Erik was infatuated with this treadwall; a climbing wall that moves as you climb so you never reach the top. He spent a ton of time here that day.

The girls loved the grocery store/kitchen area, and spent a huge amount of time "cooking" food for Ethan and I to eat.

We also learned that there's a frisbee golf course just a couple miles from our house so we decided to give it a shot. It ended up being  a lot more bushwhacking through the sage brush than most of us were up to, but one of these days Ethan and I will have to go back and give it a try just the two of us. I think it would end up being a lot of fun!

Some other highlights from this month:
--We got to meet our new neighbors when we shared some spudnuts with them on National Doughnut Day. A few days later they came by and brought us a pile of warm fresh cookies. I think this is a friendship made in heaven. ;)
--Maren decided she wanted to potty train, and did a pretty good job for a few weeks. She's over it now, but at least we know we're close to having no diapers in the house some day soon(ish).
--We had our first out-of-tow family visitors when Uncle Jeff and Aunt Denise dropped by for a few hours while in town for a work training.

We ended the month of June with a three-day camping trip that took us to some really neat places, but I think that trip deserves its own post. You'll just have to wait to see where we went and what we saw.

May 2018

Wow, I'm tired just thinking about all that happened in May this year. 

Erik's last week of 1st grade, and last week at Discover U were the first week of the month. He sure loved his teacher, Mrs. Tuhy, and all his friends there. This school was so good for him!

 

 Erik's last day was on the 2nd, and the next day we headed out for Nevada. The night before we left the kids went to play at a friends house and some of our ward members came to help us load the truck. It was sure hard to drive home to our empty house after picking the kids up and saying goodbye to our dear friends!
The first day of the move we drove 7 hours to our hotel in Las Vegas, and boy were we excited to get out of the car! We got settled and then headed down to the pool to burn some energy. Everyone had a ton of fun, so much so that Maren decided to bring along a souvenir and imprinted the pool deck on her forehead. Poor kid, that had to have really hurt, and the mark stuck around for a couple of days.

 After we'd finished swimming we headed back up to our room to watch TV until the kids were ready to crash.

 Sharli was the first to pass out, and looked so tiny in that big hotel bed.

 Day 2 we woke up bright and early, ate some cold cereal for breakfast, and hit the road. After 10 very very long hours of driving we finally made it to our new house. Members of our new ward were waiting for us when we pulled up and had the truck halfway unloaded before I ever got to even set foot in my new home. People kept asking me where to put things and nearly fell down when they found out we'd never seen the place before. Luckily for us we really like our new home, and you just cannot beat the view from the front porch!

 Amid all the hustle and bustle of un-packing and settling in, Erik started loosing teeth left and right. The poor tooth fairy was kept pretty busy during our first few weeks here!

 A week or so after we got here the kids and I were getting a bit stir crazy in the house all day, so we piled in the car and headed up the mountain to check out Lake Tahoe. The first thing we did was find a park where we could have a picnic lunch. The kids couldn't believe the size of the pine cones around here!

 At this point we hadn't seen more than a glimpse of the lake through the trees, but even that much was beautiful! I couldn't wait to finish up our lunch and get down to the lake.

 I had not really made any plans, and didn't even really know where to go up there. I just followed signs until I found a beach the had free parking that day. The kids hit the ground running and were so excited to go check out the water.

 They did pretty good staying in the shallows and mostly keeping dry, but poor Maren ended up face planting right into the water. Talk about cold!

There was a big beautiful Canada Goose that kept bobbing past to check us out. He was probably hoping we had something yummy for him. 

 In between adventures life went on as usual. Lots of unpacking, cleaning, and organizing. We did discover that our local library has a Lego club, so we started going to that every week and we love it!

 One of the first adventures that Ethan got to come on with us was to check out Washoe Lake State Park. They were having a big event that allowed us to get into the park for free. There were all kinds of fun booths and displays to see, but our favorite was the handcar they'd set up for the day in the parking lot.

 After exploring the event we went to check out the rest of the park. There is a really fun little maze for the kids to play in and we spent quite a while in there!

 Near the maze was a sign for a trail to the beach, so we decided to check it out. A bit of a walk, and a scramble over a sand dune and we were there. Not as pretty as Tahoe, but still a fun place to sit and watch the water. The kids loved dipping their toes in the water and making sand castles.

 Of course we also had to get Ethan up to Tahoe for his first visit, so on a day when he wasn't working we loaded up the car and headed up the mountain again. It was a cold day (about 49 degrees), but we didn't let that stop us.

 We found ourselves all bundled up at Nevada Beach. While it was too cold to even put our toes in, we did have a lot of fun just watching the water and playing in the sand.

 What started out as a beautiful, mostly clear day changed pretty quickly on us. It was pretty spectacular to watch the storm roll in over the lake and take over everything. We found a library that had a great kids' area and spent a long time playing there and waiting for the storm to blow over. It was really a fun day and I can't wait to go back up there again, though we'll probably wait until Fall when most of the tourists leave.

 Our first few weeks in Carson saw more rainy weather than our kids had seen in the entire year we lived in Arizona. It was hard to keep everyone busy while things were so cold and wet, so we were on the look-out for fun (indoor) places to blow off some steam. One of the kids' favorites was the Nevada Railroad Museum. It was pretty cheap, and was a lot of fun for all of us.

As the rain continued we finally got unpacked enough that I could start thinking about decorating. It's fun to have some new pictures of us all on the walls, and really made if feel more homey in here.  

 The kids weren't too sure about all the wet everywhere. I even turned a blind eye one day and gave them free run of a huge puddle, and they didn't even know what to do with it. Next time it rains here I'm going to have to get out there and show them how it's done.

 Probably our very favorite Saturday of the month was when we went down to the railroad museum to ride the trains! It was a cool day, and there weren't very many people there to ride, so we nearly had the place to ourselves.

 We went into the Wabuska Depot and bought our tickets, then climbed aboard.

 The kids were SO excited, and Ethan and I weren't too far behind.

 We got our tickets stamped by the conductor and we were off!

 It was really incredible to watch these machines in action. We really enjoyed our ride, but it was just as fun to sit in the grass and watch the trains go by for the rest of the morning.

 Because it was the first run of the season they tried to make it a big event. Smokey the bear was there to great the kids and hand out free trinkets. The kids were pretty thrilled to walk away with all the puzzles, frisbees, book marks, and coloring books they could get their hands on.

 We ended up playing frsibee (thanks Smokey!) for a long time on the lawn while watching the locomotives go by, and it was just a really really enjoyable day.

One of the first things we did after settling in was to go sign up for a Costco Membership. The kids love going there, and think the number one reason to do so is to eat all the samples. The next reason is to look at all the books. If Mom happens to pick up a few groceries while we're there then it's just a bonus. :)

 On Memorial Day we decided to take another trip up the mountain, this time to Spooner Lake. We took the kids for a 2.5ish mile hike around the little lake, and had a lot of fun. The kids were troupers, and even Maren walked almost the whole way. It did take us all day, but we did it!

 Really, the smell in these mountains is so amazing that you don't even have to bury your nose in the tree bark to smell it, but we did it anyway.

 We brought along our Naturalist's Adventure Pack that Grandma Kathleen gave the kids for Christmas and they each got to take a turn carrying it. They love getting to use all the neat tools for checking everything out!

 Our favorite find of the day was the Snow Flowers we found growing by the trail. We'd never seen anything like it and wouldn't have had any idea what it was if a passing hiker hadn't said something about it.

 Of course Maren hiked in style the whole time with her kitty ears and her shades. It was fun to watch the reactions from the passing hikers.

 We drove a little ways around Tahoe and decided to take a different route home than we'd done the previous times we were up there. We found a place that still had snow on the ground, and the kids were too excited not to stop. They didn't care that they didn't have coats or gloves, they just dove right in.

Looking back I'm amazed at how many fun things we packed into our first month here, and I'm excited to see what else we'll come up with to see and do. This place has so many neat opportunities.