Learning new skills...

Sunday morning started early as both boys were up by 6am. We headed to the park for a bagel breakfast-picnic after which Aiden officially got the art of bicycle peddling down! He was a super star and now knows how to peddle, turn left, right and brake. Zack has a new "Safety Seal" swimming vest. We've tried at least half a dozen swim aids for toddlers, and have finally found one that seems to work. Zacky seems to enjoy swimming just as much as his brother. In-between all the activities we also finished two minor projects around the house: We converted a neglected flower bed into a vegetable garden that Christina now has planted with tomatoes, strawberries, carrots, onions etc. The boys helped a lot and Zack's favorite part of gardening is finding earth worms... meet Bob & Otto! We also converted the attic/crawl space that leads off of Aiden's room into a "Space Station" We'll try to take some pictures of it soon.

Folsom Lake rising!

At this time of year the rain season comes to a close and the snow in the Sierras starts to melt. We've had above-average rainfall this past winter and it all points to Folsom Lake (5 minutes from our house) reaching 100% again this year. On Saturday we went to the water-filled parking lot at Brown's Ravine to enjoy the lake for the first time this Spring. We went back on Sunday and the water level had risen 3 parking spaces in 24 hours. The water is still very chilly, but it did not stop the boys from enjoying it.

Fairytale Town

The weather in Northern California was absolutely gorgeous this past weekend and we made full use of it. On Saturday morning we took the boys to Fairytale Town in Sacramento. It's an amasingly cool place for kids and adults. I particularly enjoyed the beautiful trees and landscaping. Despite there being hundreds of kids running around it offered a quiet and serene start to our weekend. The kids were ready to go home long before mom & dad were.

Soccer World Cup

Gavin bought a soccer World Cup shirt at a local soccer store, and although I think it is a bit bright, it is exciting to have one.

Zack keeps us smiling. He is usually in a world of his own, either moving the garden furniture around the back yard, throwing a ball in the air to play catch with himself or building a toy mountain inside the toy chest.

Visit to Discovery Kingdom

We joined Gus and Grant at Discovery Kingdom, to celebrate Grant's 4th birthday. We have been there many times before and until today, the focus has been on looking at all the wonderful animals. But today, it was all about the rides! They have enough children's rides to keep all three boys very happy and busy although we had a few tears when Zack was too short to join in the fun a few times!

Open water swim

I decided to swim a few open water swims this year. The last one I swam was about 20 years ago! The season opener was yesterday with the Ice Breaker swim in the Folsom Dam. The water was about 55F (12C) and although my wetsuit helped, my face and feet were freezing! It was fun to have the boys join me in my early morning adventure.

Aiden's cast came off on Wednesday. It was only scheduled to be removed on Thursday, but he dropped his cast in the bathtub on Tuesday evening! We are all every happy that his leg has healed so well although he is still limping a bit. The muscles should be back to normal in a week or so.

Spring Break!

The Lambert's visited us from Chicago over Spring Break and Easter. It was wonderful to see them again and watch how our kids enjoy each other's company. Ryan took fabulous photos of my boys giving poor little Etienne way too much love, for any 5 month old to endure...
We had a fun craft morning, decorating Easter eggs and painting egg carton worms. Zack impressed me with his skills as a painter while Aiden was much more focused on painting race tracks than painting worms!

Cezanne joined us at the local Easter Egg hunt and the kids were very impressed with all the candy they collected. It is not that clear on the photo, but Zack's entire mouth was blue from the blue candy he was eating.

And what visit from fellow South African's would be complete without a BBQ in the rain? At least the ribs were worth it!