Jack and Anna

What a fun weekend we had!  On Friday, Alex and I went down to pick up Jack and Anna for a fun weekend with Grandma and Grandpa.  The boys headed up to the lake for the day on Saturday, while the girls went to get pedicures and then went to "Annie" at the Performing Arts Center.




Jeff wanted to check on the cottage and haul some stuff up there and Jack couldn't believe that there would still be ice on the lake!  He was totally surprised to find people ice fishing.

After Anna and I had our toes painted, we stopped for cupcakes and went out for lunch (Subway) before heading to the PAC for the play.  We both really enjoyed it -- especially Miss Hannigan!

Video games and movies finished up the evening with a reasonably early bedtime as we had all been up the night before watching the NCAA Oklahoma game.  Jack had been pretty disappointed that they lost so a day out on the frozen lake was just what he needed (and some Harry Potter movies).

Had to get Anna back fairly early on Sunday as she had softball practice.  The weather was not very nice (icy rain) so it's a good thing the practice was going to be inside!

Grandma Lancaster is coming to visit them for Easter next weekend and, then, they're coming back to stay for the whole following week as they'll have spring break.  I'm guessing there will be some trips to the Y for swimming that week!

Spring Visitor

Once again this year I've been enjoying the arrival of woodpeckers to my trees.  This morning, I'm seeing lovely Downy Woodpeckers.  Haven't seen the males, but plenty of females.

Best Intentions

This year I'm going to start posting about my gardens again.  It's March and the City of Appleton needed to trim trees in order to install new light poles everywhere.  So Asplundh came to our house and moved a pretty big piece of equipment into the back yard -- taking part of my hydrangea tree with it.  They removed a huge number of limbs and branches from the trees so we'll see if we still have heavy shade back there this summer.  The ground was still mostly frozen but I think they tore up the turf quite a bit -- which is a nice match for the tunnels left by voles this past winter.

Between the voles, chipmunks, rabbits, and other critters that are killing my gardens and lawn, I'm not sure having the bird feeders around with their constant supply of food is a really good idea.

I've been poking around outside a bit and I'm seeing growth from many of my plants in the gardens already.  I don't want to remove any of the winter cover, though, as I'm sure we'll get some bad weather yet this year.  It has been beautifully warm (up to 60) the past week or so.