Last weekend - Mayfield Pond

Both Alex and Maya are really into catching things right now.....toads, frogs, salamanders, bugs, fish, tadpoles....pretty much anything except spiders they want to catch.  So last weekend we went for a hike and exploration trip over at Mayfield Pond, an old mill pond and park with hiking trails about 5 min down the road from our neighborhood.
Lots of fun was had but nothing was caught!

Final soccer weekend

Both kids loved playing soccer this season.  Our final weekend the weather was sunny and very hot.  Both kids had double headers on opposite sides of town at almost the same time.  So we split up and Ben took Maya to her games and I took Alex to his.  I brought my zoom lens and this time it was dry so I got to play and get a lot of shots.

It was an interesting experience in Alex's age group this year.  There were a couple other teams with really intense coaches and interestingly enough those same teams also had issues with trash talk, name calling and pushing/shoving.  Alex's team won one game and tied another, very unlike his experience last year where his team won every game.  But this year personally he played a lot harder and had a lot more contact with the ball than last year.  So all in all it was a great learning experience for him, even the negative stuff.

Memorial Day weekend

Gorgeous, hot weather!
Maya got to ride a real horse at the neighbor's house.  It was a very exciting thing for her, she's been talking about horses for about a year.

We went for a long hike at a nature area close by along the Boardman River.  The kids had gotten hydration packs for Christmas and it was very hot this day so perfect for trying them out.

May 2014

Maya had her dance recital Mother's Day weekend.  She danced ballet, tap and jazz.  It was a long day, 2 performances of the show but lots of fun.  I took pictures of her in her ballet costume because it's the fanciest :)

The weather had finally started to turn.  Still below average temps but some sunshine, hope and green things.

Charlie and I tried to get out for lots of walks on the sunny days!

Slowly slowly into spring (beginning May 2014)

We added a few new members to our family this spring.  Alex and Maya each got a gerbil.  Alex's is black and named Shadow.  Maya's is a light tan/blond and she named him Tanny.  And calls it a she even though the pet store only sells male gerbils.  While they learned how to keep a hold of them and Charlie learned not to eat them if they escaped we had the kids sit in the bathtub when they want to hold and pet them.

Alex and Maya both started spring soccer.  We spent most of the games in several layers of clothes.  One game we even had to pull out the long underwear and I seriously considered wearing snow pants.  It also rained a lot.  Between the rain and the schedules with 2 kids playing at different fields I actually have no pictures of Maya playing.  I think Ben might have some on his phone.

We re-arranged rooms this month.  Alex got a loft bed (which makes a great quick fort underneath!) and we painted his old bed and gave it to Maya.