Smith Family: All Aboard for Spring

Sunday, March 29, 2009

All Aboard for Spring

Spring is finally starting to make it's appearance -- no buds on the trees yet, but the roads are pretty clear now, with a few days even in the forties. We've been greeted by an overabundance of new potholes, and "potrivers" as well... I didn't know asphalt could erode like that! Apparently the city doesn't bother to repair the roads much, they just set the speed limit at 30 and call it good...

One thing I love about Duluth though -- every day the lake changes depending on the lighting and weather. Today it is bright blue slashed with white ice; tomorrow the ice might be gone, or it could be frozen over again. It's an ever changing view.

Note to reader: I have to apologize for the quality of the following photos in this post, they were taken with my new digital video camera which apparently is not meant for high quality stills...plus, no flash.

We took a field trip to the train museum on Thursday while the big kids were in school (when we bought our season passes to the kid's museum, the Depot was included). Taron and Ella enjoyed climbing on the trains and checking out the displays of life in the old days. Here is Taron at the wheel of the engine...

Well, it's not exactly a wheel, more like a bunch of levers and gauges.

And of course, their favorite part was the little Thomas train sets in the lobby...

We made crowns from construction paper one day, and I think they wore them for three days straight... so I snapped a photo:

And a few minutes ago, Sierra came out with the little ones, all decked out in their "spy" gear: full black down to the boots... so I snapped another photo:

Well, that's all for today folks, Happy Spring!

5 comments:

Me, Myself and I said...: Not to rub it in....but it's in the 80s this week!! I fully expect you to rub it in to me when we are SWELTERING in the 117 degree days in a few months from now!!The kids are SO cute! Love the spy gear!! Duluth is BEAUTIFUL!!; March 30, 2009 at 5:08 PM
Grapefruit said...: Is that lake view from your house? Wow, you are lucky! No way am I posting a view from my house...; March 31, 2009 at 8:12 AM
Cindy Smith said...: The view is from a spot not far from here, it's from a scenic loop that starts down the street and winds "over the river and through the woods" and down the hill to another part of town. Duluth is a grand mix of nature and civilization, you can hike or cross country ski throughout the city on all the trails,there are creeks and waterfalls everywhere too. There are even two ski resorts in town - and one only charges $5 -- it's tiny but perfect for kids. It's a really fun town, if you have warm gear, that is...; March 31, 2009 at 8:37 AM
Debbie Hadley said...: Okay, I'm complaining that it's still in the 40's and your happy that it's finally reached the 40's. I don't think I could live in such a cold place! I love the spy gear...how fun!; March 31, 2009 at 8:21 PM
Leslie said...: I don't think it matters whether you are in Utah or Minnesota...IT"S FREEZING and I AM SICK OF IT!!!!

Always amazed at how you look for the positives in ALL situations! There's nothing beautiful for me to look at right now with snow swirling through the howling freezing wind outside!

I LOVE the spy photo. My kids went through a phase of that too. How fun for the little ones to have a big sister to help them dress up and play like that.; April 3, 2009 at 10:21 AM

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The Mind of a Child...

When Solei was a toddler, she found some bark that was lying at the base of a tree and said in disgust, “Ooooooh! Tree poo-poo!”

When the girls were little, we were taking a walk with the dog who was bombarding Sierra with her friendly but slobbery kisses. Frustrated, our sweet little Sierra yelled out “NO KINA, I'M NOT YOUR ICE CREAM CONE!”

Telling Ella how to crawl, Caden explained “But I’m four, so I crawl standing up.”

I was sitting with Caden one day and I told him that the couch used to be a cow (it is leather), and I said (half jokingly) “did you know that cows turn into couches?” To which he replied, “No they don’t, they turn into pies!”

Watching the Tabernacle choir sing during conference, Solei (who was 8 yrs old at the time) said that they should sing “Do as I’m Doing” (with all the motions, I’m sure).

We put in an underground fence for the dog and Caden (age 5) saw us burying the wire. We then put up little white flags to mark where it was. A few days later he went outside and turned on the hose. When I saw him, I asked him to turn off the water. He looked at me questioningly and asked, “Until when? Until the fence grows?” He thought it needed watering!

Taron (2) looked at the varicose veins on grandmas legs and said, “owy... lightning!”

When Caden was 5, he would ask if he could go play with his friend in the morning, and I would sometimes reply, "No, it's too early". Well one day he finally asked me "can we not play on 'too early's? Can we play on 'one early'?"

Sierra told me one night that when she was little, she used to think the word “couch” came from the word “cow”, and that our couch had a cow inside (partially true since it is leather). She would try to sit down carefully so it would not run away. She thought the wood parts inside were it’s bones and the black pegs on the bottom were the feet.

Sometimes Taron (age 2) would find dog poop and say “Eew! Dog poop!” and then proceed to stomp on it as if it were a bug.

Caden (age 5) and I were talking about the sounds letters make and he asked if I knew what the sleepy letter was. I replied that I didn’t and he said, “It’s the Z... when you go to sleep then the Z’s come out of your head. And there’s a big round white thing too but it’s invisible. Maybe he had been reading too many comic books...

Sierra (age 8) made a Halloween card for her friend and wrote ENSTINE (meaning Einstein) on it, I thought it was an odd thing to put on a Halloween card so I asked if she knew who Einstein was and she said "Isn't he the guy who made Frankenstein?"

Caden (age 5) asked if it was a ghost who said the sacrament prayer because he couldn’t see anyone at the podium but he could hear the voice.

When Taron was 2 he would always respond to an “I love you” with “Much”.

Taron (3) woke up one morning, started to play and when I asked him if he wanted a pancake, he said, “Oh yeah, I was supposed to be hungry!”

Dad was singing “Jesus wants me for a sunbeam” and Taron said “Jesus likes sunbeans, they’re delicious!”

I was teaching Taron (5) how to read, and came upon the word "loose". I told him, "the two O's say "oo" and the E is silent. Slowly and deliberately, he sounded it out........"Loooosssilent".

Caden had been learning to tell time in school and was asking me about the big hand vs. the little hand on the clock. Apparently Taron was listening somewhat because he held up his right hand and asked "is this the big hand?"

Ella (4) came up to me with some of my reading glasses and said "Mom, when I put glasses on, I still don't know how to read!"

At a restaurant, Ella was impatiently waiting for her food and, looking for the waitress, she asked "when is the human coming back?"

One morning I said, "Ella, come look! There's a wild turkey in the backyard!"
Ella (excitedly): "Can we kill it?!?"
What kind of daughter am I raising???

Ella mistook another guy for Chris and was about to follow him to his car, but soon realized her mistake and said, "I was about to follow the 'not dad'".

Smith Family

Sunday, March 29, 2009

All Aboard for Spring

5 comments:

The Mind of a Child...

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