Block Party

Yesterday we had a block party in our neighborhood. It was great to see all of the families come out and spend some time together. The kids had a bounce house and giant water slide to entertain themselves on, but they spent most of the time dancing to music in the street.

Emma and Josh loved that the street was closed and they could wander around. Jill and I are very strict with them about being in the street and they took full advantage of their free pass. Their feet were black by the end of the night-which was way later than usual bed times for both of them.

Emma and Stephanie dancing in the street.

Josh hanging out with Trish when he wasn't busy hording their Doritos.

Easter

Jill already covered this on her blog, but for those of you who haven't found your way over there I'll post some images here too.

We had a great Easter this year-especially since we had some visitors from the East side. The kids loved having someone else to play with and it was great to see my Godson Jack for the first time in several years.

Fire Station

Last month Emma and her class took a field trip to the fire station that her teacher's husband works at. All the kids had a great time and learned a little bit about fire safety. The tour got cut a little short due to calls coming in, but the kids got to fill their time playing with the hose in the back of the station. I was glad I borrowed a camera that could take video for the occasion.

This is my favorite image from the day that didn't involve Emma:

Success (Sort Of)

Lately work has been killing me and yesterday was no exception. I had been texting my hunting buddy Andrew during the day and on a whim I asked if he was free today to go out hunting. After the go ahead from Jill, we headed off this afternoon.

We were after our usual target of coyotes, but this really isn't the ideal time of year for them. We didn't let that bother us one bit and set off as hopeful as ever that we would see some coyotes out there. The weather was a little warm which made hiking a challenge, but a little rest in the shade cured that.

After several stands of calling and not seeing anything, it was becoming clear to both of us that we would be getting blanked again. As we were walking towards our last-ditch stand, something caught my eye. I made a quick flanking move to the left and had a cottontail in my crosshairs.

I'm sure a lot of hunters would think such a small trophy wouldn't be worth the celebration, but it made my day (and I'm pretty sure Andrew's too.)

Go Fly a Kite

Monday was an unusually windy day as a cold front moved through the valley. I left work a little early and on the way home the notion hit me that we should take the kite out. Turns out Jill had been thinking the same thing and Emma already was primed for the idea.

Emma enjoyed watching the kite, but wasn't too interested in being in control of it. I pretty much kept the thing aloft for 30 minutes while she ran around marveling at it. It was still a great day to spend outside with the family.

Josh decided this was his "cheese" face for the day

After the kite was down we spent a little time at the playground. I literally had to pry Josh off this slide when it was time to leave.

Luke AFB

Last Friday Emma and I had the opportunity to go to Luke AFB and take a tour. I wasn't able to take pictures in a lot of the places we went, but let me tell you it was a great time. We started out by going to the tower. We got to watch some F-16s take off from inside the tower and then we made our way out onto the catwalk to see even more. Emma loved watching the planes take off and the roar of the jet engines.

After that, we went to the flight line and got to see the F-16s up close. As we were wrapping up, some of the planes were returning from flights and taxied right by us. Emma did not appreciate them showing up because it meant she had to put ear protection on and the muffs were way too big for her. As you can see in the picture below, she was less than thrilled.

Here's the pilot of one of the passing planes saying hi.

After the flight line we had some lunch and then checked out the loading area where they put the weapons on the planes. Emma was wiped out by then and I think she was grateful to get back to the car and pass out.

Ready for Bed

We've been trying to cut down on Emma's TV time lately, so after Josh is in bed Jill has been sitting on the couch with her in the front room and reading books with her. I made this image last week after they were done reading a book and Emma was doing her best to stall going to bed.