Look Mom! No training wheels...

April 7: Day 98

Sarah could hardly pedal, she was laughing so hard.  We spent a good 15 minutes trying to get her used to the feel of her bike without training wheels.  Mike ran back and forth in the grass catching her when she would wobble and giving her an extra push when needed.  To spite our efforts, Sarah was just too excited and laughing hysterically to balance for any length of time.  So after the ol' college try, the training wheels went back on until the next time have the energy to give it a go.  She certainly enjoyed it.

Good Friday...

April 6: Day 97

Matthew 27: 55  Not very far away, many women were watching.  They had followed Jesus from Galilee to take care of his needs.  <(((><  Every year on Good Friday a bunch of us get all the kids together for an Easter egg hunt, but more importantly to tell the Easter story of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and then rising on the third day!  We go all out!  One of the kids inevitably wants to be the donkey that Jesus rides into town on and another always wants to be Pilate.  As you can see, I have three village women whom I'm sure played different and significant roles in this year's sketch. 

A walk in the flowers...

April 5: Day 96

We took a short walk today and enjoyed the beautiful weather and spring scenery.  The girls indulged their creative sides and snapped a ton of pictures of flowers along the way.  These are just a few of our favorites. 

Riding bikes....

April 4: Day 95

When schedules permit, we try to take as many family walks and rides as we can, especially once the time changes and it's lighter later. On this day, the three girls dusted off their bikes and we headed down to the dead end. With summer quickly approaching, we have to hone our skills and get those training wheels off of Sarah's bike so that we can hit some mountain bike trails. 

Wild Kingdom....

April 3: Day 94

We've always got some wild (or maybe domestic) animal in our backyard.  We used to wonder why the neighborhood cats would come and sit on our fence.  Well, I think we answered that question.  Sarah was swinging on the nearby play set when she came running over to me and Mike saying she, "saw a crocodile"!  We of course reminded her that we don't live in Florida anymore and that there are no crocodiles or alligators in California.  She was certain, so we checked it out.  Yep, this "alligator" lizard is pretty close.  In case you can't get a good perspective, it was over a foot long, including the tail.

Butterfly Jungle...

April 2: Day 93

Oh how we love the Wild Animal Park (Zoo's Safari Park) in April.  It's time for Butterfly Jungle.  Walking through the doors, into the butterfly aviary makes one feel like they are in a rain forest somewhere in South America.  There are thousands of butterflies flitting around and they will often alight on one's head or shoulder.  Two of my three girls love the butterflies.  Unfortunately, Sarah steps into a nightmare when she passes through those "jungle" doors.  So, Sarah and I passed through quickly and joined up with our group in the bird aviary just on the other side of this exhibit once everyone had gotten their fill of playing with the clumsy, yet colorful creatures.  Before I got out though, one butterfly did stop by to tell me hi. 

Carlsbad 5000 for the grown-ups...

April 1: Day 92

Mike and I took a turn at running this morning, and the girls just got to come along for the ride, and a quick picture with the Easter bunny.  ;)  Mike ran his best time at this race and completed the 5K in 19:45.  I, on the other hand finished in 30:15 which isn't bad considering I didn't lift one finger to train for this race.