Gold Nugget Days Parade- April 26, 2008

Micki, Chad and Kristin, and I all decided to take the kids to see the Gold Nugget Days Parade. This is a very long parade, but a fun community event to attend. The kids enjoyed eating corn dogs, kettle corn, cotton candy & fresh-squeezed lemonaid. Kylee & Alysa were really into the parade, while James and Charli sort of wilted.

Paradise High Band- the kids got very excited about the marching bands coming by!
The Finch family enjoying the parade
"Wahoo! I love the parade!"
James & Charli sharing a quite moment, "We're not eating dinner, we're just coloring! No dinner, no dinner!" is what they were chanting just before I took this photo:
They did end up eating, because we told them no dinner, no ICE CREAM! Hey, sometimes bribery just works...

Spying and Playing

James found this magnifying glass in our office and decided to hunt our backyard for good things to spy on. He called it the "spying glass" and spent about an hour walking around the yard "spying" on everything he possibly could. He was amazed at how BIG the ants looked through his "spying glass" and how different the ground looked. It's all about perspective, and when you're 3 1/2, a spying glass is just about all you need to get a wonderful new view on the world!

Even Owen got in on the spying, although he wasn't quite sure how this thing worked or what it was for... Playing with the sand wheel is Owen's favorite thing to do in our yard, aside from swinging, of course.

An afternoon at the Town Park

My mom came into town, so we decided to head over the the park for a little bit before dinner. Our kids LOVE the park! We are lucky to live in a community with several awesome parks. The new Paradise Community Park is especially fun because the kids love running on the bouncy recycled and shredded tires that have been used in the playground area. They get really dirty at this park, but the sure do love it!

RODEO 2008

It is our tradition every year to gather all our friends, leave the children at home, and head to Red Bluff for the RED BLUFF ROUND-UP! Rain or shine, we always end up having a blast. This has become one of my favorite traditions that my group of friends and I do each year. There's just nothing better than a hot corn dog, a pile of greasy curly fries and an ice cold beer while watching cowboys attempt to remain on top of enormous, angry bulls. Aaahhh... gotta' love it! Here are a few of my favorite shots from RODEO 2008:

Cowboy Keegan
Todd & Keegan- I love this adorable picture!
Me & my Brooke

Me & my Brooke
McGregors
The soon-to-be-Wells
The sort-of Fiches- minus Kristin, plus Micki...
The Clarks
The Kennedys
Time to EAT! It is our goal at the Rodeo to be consuming some kind of junk food the entire day if at all possible.The One-Armed Bandit and his buffaloNow, who wouldn't just love this guy?!?!
Brooke & I, having a blast!

The always-eventful walk home from the Rodeo...
Stopping for a quick hug with my Todd on the walk back.
A tired, post-rodeo pile-upAnd that's it for Todd... snoring in the chair, like always. A sign of a good day:

Our New Playground

"Home Park," that is what James calls it. Since we've moved into this house, we've never had much going on in our back yard. The boys are old enough now that they love spending time outside and we felt we were in need of some nice outdoor playspace.We ordered swings and hung them from our high back deck. We have two baby-swings, two big-kid swings, and two grown-up hammock chairs.The boys LOVE these swings!!! We have lots of other fun new stuff in our yard, but the swings are by far their favorite."Push me again, mommy! Just one more big push!"Our new climber / slideOwen, spying in his new spy-scope."I spy my daddy!!!"Spying on daddyOur brave Owen, getting ready to take a trip on the slide.
Big brother's turn on the slide! Owen loves the sandbox about as much as the swings. He especially loves the sand-sifter. He will site there all by himself for a long time just dumping sand into this toy. There's nothing like brand-new sand!!!

We love our new yard!!