Oh man! She's 5!!!

So my dear little one turned 5! I told her she can't turn 6.. That didn't go over so well unfortunately.

We had a great day with her tho! Here are a few pictures of the day!!

Elf on the shelf adventures

Jingle the elf moved in with us this past Christmas. Here are a few places we found her each morning!

Birthday project

My dad turned 60 this year and being the addict to 'pinterest' that I am, I came across a very need idea for his birthday present. What to get someone who needs nor wants anything?? Memories!

Here's the original link I found the idea from.
http://nothingbutbonfires.com/2011/06/sixty-years-memories
I modified the presentation into a photo album and added pictures with some memories.

Basic idea was to contact the important people from my dad's past and current life. Ask them for a memory or two they have of my father. Hope that you get a memory for as many years as he is old (which I did plus a few extra!). Put it all together and voila! It took a lot of work and time but I honestly had so much fun doing it.

Here are my pictures of the project! I filled the remainder of the photo album I used with old pictures of my dad. Pictures are sometimes better memories than anything written down!

 

Bandelier Hiking Adventure

A few days ago Maria and I went to the Bandelier National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/band/index.htm) with some friends. It was an excellent adventure! They had a junior ranger program for the kids, which is an activity book they give for the kids to complete. It contains relevant information for the park and teaches them about the forest. It also keeps them occupied so a 3 hour hike turns into playtime! After completing the activities they got to recite the junior ranger pledge and got a sew-on "badge".

Here are a bunch of pictures from our hike! (Don't forget, you can click on the images and see the big version of it)

Maria, Ainsley & Keira

If you look closely you can see a petroglyph of a sun 

Inside one of the 'caves'

Junior rangers in progress

Maria had to go in almost
every single one she could
fit in

We climbed several of these.... 

Maria... she looks so grown up... *sigh*

Looking into one house that went further back
(we couldn't go in this one)

Inside a house, looking at its windows

Petroglyphs that have been preserved with glass

We didn't climb this one, too high for the little ones! 

Learning about tree rings

Picnic lunch