Mom's Visit and More!

This is a PHOTO DUMP! :) First I must apologize for how mixed up the photos are... we finally just got our new camera (thanks so my parents and siblings who helped me buy my new camera for my birthday!). For the last couple of weeks we have been using two cameras as we became comfortable with the new Canon.

 Behold the awesome zoom power of the new pocket-camera: the Canon SX260 HS with 20x zoom! BEST camera EVER! We wanted to pay extra bucks for amazing zoom due to all the incredible wildlife that we have at our new country home... and we couldn't be happier! See the little deer ears poking out of the grass in the above picture?? I didn't even notice those guys until I zoomed in on the big guy to the right!

 This is the un-zoomed picture out of the back window. You can't even see the deer, right??!! (They are to the left of the barn, back where the distant trees are).

 And here they are, zoomed in! :) I feel like a kid in a candy store! :)

 Obviously the big news is that Grammy was in town last week!! This was one of our best visits... Sophia is at an age where she is just all about her grandparents, and it was so nice to have mom stay with us and help out with Kaia, even if it was just a small break. It went by too fast! We had so much fun!

 Luckily our long winter mellowed out a bit while mom was visiting. We had some wonderful sunshine and got up into the 70's! You'll notice the depletion of the snow in these pictures!

 Ralph paid us a surprise visit on April 22, mom's first full day at our place. So much fun to have a grandparent from each side to play with! :)

 Margie has been spending lots of time grazing loose in the backyard. It's a bit risky, but so far so good!

 Sophia in 7th heaven with Grammy and Grandpa Ralph

 Grandpa Ralph with Kaia and Grammy with Sophia

 Margie sunbathing! (Playing with the zoom again!)

 

Some baby faces! Kaia does lots of limb and head lifting from her big tummy!

 I can't remember which day we did this, but we went for a drive around our new little town, Glyndon, and stopped at this park for a few minutes.

 Some star-gazing!

 Some silliness

 Sophia's ballet practice on April 27th

 This is Mrs. Gasper, the owner/founder of Gasper's School of Dance. She's both terrifying and wonderful, like most amazing ballet instructors :)

 Playing in Island Park in Fargo after ballet on April 27th!

 Kaia's first swing ride!

 Island park is on the "good side" of the Fargo dike. We hiked up the dike to check out the flooding on the other side.

 We ended Saturday with an amazing supper at the Speakeasy restaurant.

 Grammy with her girls!

 Sophia's making a grumpy face, but Kaia looks so fat and adorable I still had to post it! :)

 Sophia loved having Grammy to play with all week! I try to indulge Sophia once a day... I was happy to take a break from that for a week :) One can only play so much horses and barbies!

 Kaia was super interested in daddy's harmonica

 Mom flew back to VT on Sunday. Before she left we went a mile up the road to explore an especially secluded and lovely part of the prairie

 Pelicans!

 Have I mentioned how much I love the zoom on my new camera??!!

 On the way to the airport we encountered flooding across our usual shortcut to the interstate!

 We squeezed in just a little more outdoor time after Grammy left. This was our saddest goodbye... Sophia took it pretty hard and there was a lot of crying. Every time I tried to comfort her I started crying too! Kind of a mess! We sure loved our visit with mom/Grammy!

 Okay here is where the pictures get messed up! This was taken at the last school Skateland party, on April 19. Sophia with one of her good friends (lately... these things change!) Gowri.

 April 20 ballet practice

 An incredible, super-fun birthday party on April 20 at the Children's Museum for Sophia's (current) "best friend," Eleanor.

 This was Sophia's annual School Carnival, on April 25. It was extra fun this year because Grammy came!

 Grammy and Kaia at the end of a long carnival night :)

 Lots of horsing around lately!

 Our first picnic of the year! This was on Friday, April 26.

So much fun! We are looking forward to our next family visit, from Grammy, Pop-Pop and Uncle Sky and auntie Berta (and perhaps Uncle Chris and Aunt Sammy??) in July!