Yurt Camping With Cousin Kiko

Our first 'camping' trip of the season just happened. Yurt camping that is. I figured we would ease our way into tent camping with the kids when the weather warms up a little more. We packed up the kids, our stuff, our nephew Kiko and ventured just under an hour north to a yurt campground close to home. 

The yurt was nice, the weather was beautiful...but the noise was maddening! The campground was placed right off of the major freeway and the sand and water play space was directly under the bridges of the major highway. Very loud and constant noise. But, the weather was great and the kids didn't seem to mind the noise. So fun was had!

Other than sand and water play, we went on an adventurous hike and explored the area. Esperanza fell off of the bunk bed in the middle of the night, which was kind of scary, but turned out okay in the end. No more bunk bed sleeping for her. On the way home the next day, we stopped by a little fair and the kids got to ride some rides and play some games.

The Butterfly Pinata

We recently completed a craft project with our super crafty friend Jonna. Over a period of several weeks, lots of planning, cutting, gluing and a whole lot of fun, we built a butterfly pinata! It was so much fun and it turned out amazing! This beautiful butterfly pinata will be filled with toys and treats then busted open for Esperanza's birthday later this summer. Can't wait!

Zoo Day for the Birthday Boy

My little boy is 3 already! He didn't want a party. But he did want a Dusty and Lightening McQueen cake as well as a trip to the zoo. So that is what he got. 

Back to Building

Armando is back to building houses. After the house he built last summer sold with an actual profit and not a loss, he continued with more houses. Currently, he and his partner have 3 new construction houses and a few remodels or 'flips' they are working on. We hope these new projects turn into some profit and potentially some income for our little family. Here are a few pictures of some of the new construction homes he is working on. Oh, and I get to clean when they are all done. The kids tag along sometimes to help.

Nap At ACE

This doesn't happen very often. When it does, it just melts my heart. My napping almost 3 year old baby boy. Fell asleep while nursing. Love him.

Snakes To The Rescue

Slugs eat my strawberries. Actually, they take one or two little bites out of each and every strawberry. It is very frustrating to go out to my strawberry patch, see dozens of bright red juicy berries but then find a tiny slug bites in them all. All but one. This one berry was spared.

I recently heard that garter snakes eat slugs. Of course, I don't have an abundance of snakes in my yard, hence all the slugs. As I was telling my friend about this strawberry/slug issue over coffee at her house one morning, I mentioned to her that if only I had garter snakes, I wouldn't have such a bad slug problem. As luck would have it, she just happened to have a TON of garter snakes hanging out under a big black tarp in her yard. 

The kids (hers and mine) and us ladies had a ton of fun catching snakes. There were dozens of them. We figured it wouldn't hurt to re-home a dozen of them into my garden where they would have an abundance of slugs to feast on.

 Into the strawberry patch they go

After just a few days, I noticed a significant decrease in slugs and my berries are now whole.