Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Here's Brendan looking out over the lake. There were many ducks out there between the wall and the shore.
Joshua and Cara climbing down the rocks to the shore.
A view towards the lake from the park. You can see how dry the grass is...we need more rain!
A sailboat anchored just off shore. See the darker water? That's seaweed! The water out past the wall was so pretty....a lovely shade of blue-green.
The lighthouse....and the waves splashing over the breakers. You can walk out at least to the higher breakers...in the front right. The rest going out the lighthouse is much lower, so even if it's a little windy, it's just not safe!
A trip to the park...
Last Wednesday, I took my kids and my little brother, Joshua, to Breitbeck Park in Oswego. You can see Lake Ontario in the background. The kids always love going to any park....but this is one of their favorites.
Cara and Joshua climbing on what seems to be Monkey Bars..but most kids just climb up and over it instead.
Caitlin loving every trip down the slides!
Caitlin's First Chore....
While I was folding laundry the other day, Caitlin said, "Me help?"....so I taught her how to fold small towels. This is was she did on her first try...a great job I think. She even placed them in piles on the edge of the couch, then helped me put them away! She became very frustrated a couple times, but I encouraged her to try again...and she was SO happy when she did it right. :)

Caitlin's face after a face-painting trial run. She was very serious and still for me, which I just thought was so cute....tough for this little one to hold still for too long!

Sisters.....Cara and Caitlin playing together. Caitlin was pretending to be a baby again and Cara was holding her...mind you, Caitlin is half of Cara's body weight! So she wasn't holding her for long. I think this may be one of my favorite photos of the two of them.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Beaver Lake Trip

Last Friday, the weather was just perfect after many hot days. It was cool with no threat of rain, so I decided to take the kids to Beaver Lake in Baldwinsville, NY. It's a small lake that has many, very nice walking paths in various distances. The kids (and myself) always love coming here. I made sure to bring my camera....so here's many photos of that day. Enjoy!
A very neat mass of grapevines...plenty of those in the woods there.
A grapevine that had twisted around a small tree...the tree was gone though! Only a piece of it remained in the spiral.

Brendan posing on a log.

And Cara too.....

And all three on a fun fallen tree near the water's edge. This is one of my favorite photos ever.....

For the life of me, I can't remember what these are called. They are very tiny carnivorous plants found in bogs.

A pretty wetland flower...I used to know what this is called.

Awesome Jack-in-the-Pulpits....another very cool carnivorous wetland plant.

Cara found this beetle on a wild iris seed pod....I almost didn't see it...since the green on his back matched the green on the pod! I was so happy to be able to take a nice closeup!

Just a neat looking tree....

Brendan loving the telescope on the bog trail.

Caitlin looking slightly bewildered.

How was I able to take so many photos in one day with all three of my children together??!!

A pretty fern on the bog trail walkway. I love water droplets on plants.

A small pond in the bog...water level are quite low around here. There were many frogs in this pond!

I believe this pretty flower is called Loosestrife. I think it is invasive.

A nice shot of some of the lake from the observation deck that has the telescope on it. The lake was very quiet today....we could only hear crows and seagulls.

Another shot to the side....lots of lily pads in this lake. There were many with beautiful yellow blooms!

Looking down at the water's edge...from the observation deck.

Another pretty fern....I'll have to look up what variety this is. I love the leaf pattern.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Before and After!
Below is the flowerbed I made, I think, in the beginning of June. That's peat moss on top, waiting to mixed in. And above, is what it looks like now, with everything grown. There are Petunias, Verbena, African Daisies, Sunflowers that came up from last year's seeds, Jade Sunflowers, Cosmos, 3 different varieties of Zinnias and Cherry tomatoes.

It really is a jungle out there!!

A field trip around Grandma & Grandpa's yard!
On Sunday, after dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house, the kids and I walked around their yard and looked for little treasures. They each took a Ziplock bag and found acorns, feathers and sticks. I took along my camera and tried to find some interesting shots of nature.

The photo above is a shot I took while looking up through the trees.

I love the red stems on these maple leaves.

This wood is sitting on top of a very large stump.

A cute Curly-Q.

An interesting design some hungry insects left on this grapevine leaf.
More flowers to enjoy!A gorgeous Dahlia that I'm fighting to keep alive.

One of the many zinnias in my back flowerbed. I love the mini flowers in the center...I believe those are what hold the pollen.

This zinnia and the one below are the same variety...they are quite large! I would say they're about 4 inches in diameter.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

A facelift for my Kiwi!
I decided my Ashford Kiwi spinning wheel needed a facelift! I took the wheel off, sanded it a bit, then spray painted it this pretty pink. (Caitlin's toddler bed is this color too!) Then I purchased the pretty flower rub-ons and decorated it! It's so very me...I just love it.
Almost forgot these....
Photos in the van just before we left for our zoo trip. They were all so excited to be part of a surprise.

I love Caitin's face in this photo.

And a shot of our neice, Myah. She has the cutest smile. She has started crawling and pulling herself to standing now!! Watch out! She'll be one at the end of November.
Latest crochet project....
A cute vest made from the yarn I found at the Rescue Mission's yard sale. The trim is a fun fur type yarn. I made this for my neice, Myah. ( I took this photo with my phone, so it's not terribly clear....sorry!)
Cara and Brendan
Brendan playing with his new toy wrench.

Cara posing with her Mountain Dew.

Cara will be very tall and thin like her Daddy!! She's going into third grade already...doesn't seem possible.