Digger Man

This has become a new favorite book of David's.  As far as I know he has asked for this story every night since Thursday.  Tonight I was putting David to bed (Dustin had to go back to school to work on some stuff) and he asked for the book by name.  As we got settled into bed, I opened the page and David starts reciting the book.  I thought it was hilarious.  He loves the book and I must say that I do recommend it for anyone with little boys that love trucks.  Digger Man by Andrea Griffing Zimmerman & David Clemesha.

Kites, S'Mores & Marshmallows

Last night for FHE we once again went kite flying.  David lasted with his new kite (Buzz Light Year) for about 10 minutes.  He can fly that kite all by himself and really enjoys running with it.  We also pulled out my fancy trick kite and learned how to fly it last night.  Dustin figured it out a lot quicker than I did, but we had fun.  Our neighbors Thom & Laci flew their dragon kite with us.  It was Laci's first time to fly a kite.  We all had so much fun.  David really enjoyed chasing the tail on Thom & Laci's kite.  

After flying kites for about an hour and half we came in and had s'mores.  We roasted the marshmallows under the broiler and used Reeses Peanut Butter Cups instead of Hershey's chocolate bars.  Boy were those s'mores yummy!  David of course just wanted the marshmallows, we even let him roast his own which he just burned on the heating coil.  We had a very enjoyable FHE in the April wind.

Alligators

Today we took a field trip to the Alligator Farm because it was a free admission day. We got there right as it opened and were the only ones there the whole time we were there. We were able to learn which kind of reptiles make good pets and which ones do not because they get too big, vicious or just too hard to care for. We got our picture taken with an alligator, his name was Yager.

David even got a certificate of bravery for "showing little or no hesitation and willingly entering into the fascinating world of reptiles at Colorado Gators", it's "signed" by Yager with his teeth

We saw the tortoises, snakes and fish and of course the alligators. The alligators came in every size! We were even able to hear the alligators talking to each other. They were quite vocal at 9am and it was fun to hear. On the video you can hear me talking to Dustin. We were standing on a little pier that had chairs. There was a chair by the railing and David was standing on top of the chair over the railing. I just didn't want him to fall into the water with all the alligators.... it was a little nerve racking!

Before we left we bought David a crocodile from the gift shop. He picked it out all by himself. We had a really good time at the alligator farm. I was really glad that we went since it was a free day!

Adventures in the Wildlife

I learned alot about the valley this month and made a commitment to see more things around town. If you want to know more about my discoveries click here. Today we had our first valley field trip. We went to the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge if you look around at the site click on refuge kids and then you can click on a list of all the birds in the park. We had a great time. It's not quite the wildflower season yet but we were able to see a lot of really cool things. Click on the highlighted words to see what we saw.To start we took a walking trail along the Rio Grande River. I stepped onto another little path to get a little closer to the river and there were just a bunch of snakes every where, they were just little garter snakes but at one time I was able to see 7 or 8 slither off under the rocks. After our walk we walked out again to see if we would see more and sure enough we did. Dustin thinks that this is their mating season and that's why there were so many.

Walking along our trail we also saw some Mallard Ducks, Canadian Geese, Marsh Wrens, and Killdeer and we were able to hear a Woodpecker in the trees. During our walk periodically we would walk on a little path to the river. David really enjoyed the mud. We stopped and looked at some ants, David tried to pick them up and just wanted to play with them until we made him keep moving.

When we finished the walk along the river we went back to the car and made a stop at the restrooms. David was a little unsure of the latrines at first but they quickly became a game and he kept asking to go back.

David did go the first time, but this a picture of the game part of the latrines, he kept wanting to get back on, he even threw a rock in it

To leave the refuge we took the auto tour out and we were able to see a lot more birds. The birds we saw like non moving water, here's the list: American Coot, Ruddy Duck, and White Faced Ibis. It was really cool to see so many different birds in one place.

Since we were driving through the wetlands area there were Cattails everywhere! David kept calling them flowers so we got out and let him look up close and touch them. We are going to come back the the Cattails are brown. It's like looking at a field of sunflowers except is a marshland of Cattails, I think it will be really cool.

This is David touching the cattails

We will be going on two field trips a month. Tomorrow we go to the Alligator farm (only because it's free tomorrow), so look for more pictures tomorrow or Sunday. Then our next field trip will be to the Native Aquatic Species Farm on May 2nd.

Reflections of Christ

I was made aware that the Mesa, Arizona Temple visitor's center has a fine art exhibit on display called "Reflections of Christ".  I loved watching the video of the pictures that have been put to music which happens to be one of my favorite church songs.  Here is a link to the site with the video/music montage - Reflections of Christ.  The official website is here.  The official website has a video about the making of the exhibit, notes about the artists and a blog  from the artists, plus notes from the actors.  You must create a sign in to access all parts of the website, but it is amazing.  I think this is a great project and really enjoyed watching it, especially since I can't see it in person.

David's New Tricks

David has some new tricks.  I hope you enjoy!

Sunday after church Dustin was taking his bike out of the trunk of the car and to get all of the parts he had to climb inside.  David saw Dustin inside the trunk and decided that he should be in there too.  David crawled into the trunk all by himself and played there for quite a while, it took quite a bit of coaxing to get him out!

Sorry about the orientation of the video (it's sideways), that's how Dustin filmed it and I didn't know how to fix it.  It's still pretty funny though

 

Gone Green & Thank You

It was announced today (this evening actually) that the drinking water problem has been corrected.  This is what our notice says:

Customers of the City of Alamosa/Price Water System were notified on March 19, 2008 of a problem with our drinking water and were advised to initially boil all water used for drinking and food preparation and to use bottled water during the disinfection and flushing process.  Once this process was completed, the boiled water order was reinstated on April 3, 2008.  We are pleased to report that the problem has been corrected and that it is no longer necessary to either use bottled water or to boil your water used for food preparation and drinking purposes.  We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

If you have not already done so, run all taps for at least two minutes.

Alamosa City Water is Now Safe For ALL Uses.

We are so excited to be able to use our water normally.  We were glad to get our notice this evening.  Thank you to everyone who helped us to get through this.  We really appreciated all the water and resources we were given.  Thank you.

A Funny Thing Happened...

A funny thing happened while we were at the library.  David decided that he didn't want to participate in the songs before the stories and so he was roaming the isles of books (this is a common occurrence).  Today he found an empty shelf and so he crawled in and lay there.  One of the librarians was taking pictures of our story time and she came across David.  She handed him a book, so David lay on his shelf and was looking at a book.  If only I had had my camera to get a picture of him on that shelf!

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

With tuppence for paper and strings

You can have your own set of wings

With your feet on the ground

You're a bird in a flight

With your fist holding tight 

To the string of your kite

Oh, Oh, Oh!

Let's go fly a kite

Up to the highest height!

Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring

Up through the atmosphere

Up where the air is clear

Oh, let's go fly a kite!

When you send it flyin' up there

All at once you're lighter than air

You can dance on the breeze

Over 'ouses and trees

With your fist  'olding tight

To the string of your kite

Oh, oh, oh!

Let's go fly a kite

Up to the highest height!

Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring

Up through the atmosphere

Up where the air is clear

Let's go fly a kite!

Do you remember watching Mary Poppin's and at the end everyone is flying a kite?  I always thought how nice that all of the kites are behaving and flying properly.  Well.....

I know that kites don't fly that nicely in real life.  Last Wednesday I took David to the dollar store and we bought David his first kite, a Jack Sparrow kite (aren't you proud Cassie?).  We finally pulled it out of the packaging yesterday.  We had a very successful kite-flying experience after dinner.  Our experience was so fun and 

David loved it so much that we decided kite-flying would be an 

excellent FHE activity.

We had lots of wind but the kite just wouldn't fly as well as it did yesterday.  David's favorite part was when the kite would dive into the earth and he could run to go put it up in the air.  We still had a good time we just spent a lot more time chasing the kite than we did actually flying it.  Here's to flying a kite!

Water Update

Just to update you on our water situation....

We first started with Stage 1 "RED" of the water treatment process on Wednesday, March 26th.  These were our restrictions:

DO NOT USE city water for any purpose other than flushing your toilet.

- Do not drink city water

- Do not use city water for food preparation

- Do not use city water to prepare baby formula

- Do not use city water to bathe or shower

- Do not use city water to brush your teeth or clean your dentures

- Do not use city water for pets, fish tanks or plants

- Do not use your washing machine

- Do not dump any cleaning chemicals down any drains

During Stage 1 the following Public Health concern may exist:

Citizens may experience skin, eye, or other irritation from exposure to the high-concentrated chlorinated water.  If signs of irritation occur, immediately rinse irritated areas with bottled water.  If the irritation continues or spreads contact your health care provider for follow up care.

School was cancelled Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  If you have been reading our blog you know that we left town to go to Albuquerque (see below).  When we got back we were still in Stage 1 with notices for Stage 2 "YELLOW" beginning to be dispersed.  On Monday, March 31st we recieved our Stage 2 notice which states as follows....

You can use city water for the following:

- Sponge bathes or brief showers only in luke-warm (not hot) water is encouraged

- Flushing your toilets

DO NOT USE CITY WATER FOR THESE PURPOSES:

- Do not drink city water

- Do not use city water to bathe infants or senior citizens

- Do not use city water for food preparation

- Do not use city water to prepare baby formula

- Do not use city water to brush your teeth or clean your dentures

- Do not use city water for pets, fish tanks or plants

- Do not use your dishwasher

- Do not use your washing machine

- Do not dump any cleaning chemicals down any drains

During Stage 2 the following Public Health concern may exist:

#1: Young children, senior citizens or individuals with sensitive skin may experience skin, eye, or other irritation from the chlorine.  Limit their exposure during this period.  If signs of irritation occur, rinse irritated areas with bottled water.  If the irritation continues or spreads contact your health care provide for follow up care.

#2: Do not use city water to clean any open sores or wounds

#3: Citizens that are sensitive to chlorine should avoid turning faucets on during the stage 2 process.

Although, we were told not to use our dishwashers and washers, we were asked to run them to help get the chlorine through the system.

As of today we have been okayed to use city water to wash clothes.

We have plenty of water and doing well.  None of have gotten sick or had any problems other than the inconvenience of the whole situation.  We are hoping to make it to Stage 3 "Green" soon.

Pueblo Fun

Monday we took a trip to the zoo.  I must say that David gets more exciting every time we go.  When we were there this time we ate lunch at the zoo and then visited the animals.  Lunch time was definitely the best time to go that day.  The animals were so active and fun to watch!  We were able to get some really great pictures!  Enjoy.

David and the Camel:  Camel's chin, David's chin

Dustin & David in the giant egg;  the turkeys showing off

My new boyfriend.  When I was at the glass this bird would just stare and stare.  He even showed me the plume on his head!