Hiking

Our family LOVES hiking. It is always a good time, great exercise and we see some fun amazing things in nature. We went on a hike this past weekend to a place that is now one of our favorite hikes to date. It is a wildlife sanctuary in Dunbarton, NH.

Jadon was on the search for signs of animals in wildlife for Boy Scouts. I will spare you the "signs" of skunk, deer and moose. Lets just say that there were several samples. ;) However, here are the other sign that are pretty cool!



Woodpecker



Newt

Jadon holding Newt

Beaver

First day of Spring!!

So, my thought over the weekend was to post about Spring. We have had a huge amount of snow this winter. With the warmer days we have seen lots of melting and even some flower buds trying to make their way to the surface. The kids are gearing up for baseball and softball. Jadon is practicing his pitching with David. Grant is finishing up winter soccer and Lillian's sewing projects might just have to take a back seat to riding her bike. As always the case here in NH, you never really know what the weather is gong to be. What did we get for the first day of Spring on Monday??? You guessed it. SNOW!! About 2 inches of it. I am thankful that it was wet and didn't require any shoveling. The trees were beautiful and in fact the snow was still sticking to them as I woke up this morning! Then, what do I hear in the forcast for Thursday? More snow. I hope they have planned indoor practices for baseball/softball until we dry up a bit. :)

So Much Snow!!!

Okay so right after Christmas, we all wished for snow. I am thinking we may have wished to many times because we sure have snow!! Today is the third snow storm THIS WEEK here in Concord, NH. I am not complaining...really! It would be silly to wish for snow and then complain about it right? The only one who is not crazy about it is our dog Clara. She just sticks her tail between her legs and stares at me as if to say, "can we go inside now?".

The kids have build large snow forts and tunnels and we have HUGE snow piles on the curb. We have also had a LOT of hot chocolate. :)

FIRST Lego League

Another great year for my First Lego League team. This year Grant was old enough to join Jadon and the group of boys called Out of the Box. This year's theme was Body Forward. They learned a LOT about medicine and how the body works. They also spent weeks programming the robot to do missions on the table. They participated in a regional competition at Merrimack High School. They won second place for the table portion and 1st place for the design of their robot. This propelled them to go to the State Championship Competition on Dec. 4th where they were against 51 other teams. Though they did not go home with a Lego trophy, they did a great job! I am very proud of them.

Practicing their research project presentation

At the regional competition

Pround team with their trophies

At the State Competition

Thanksgiving

Rienstra Family

We had a wonderful relaxing Thanksgiving at my sister's house. Four families visit with my Mom. We did some eating, playing games and looking after the 21 children. Good times!!

My Mom and her 21 grand-children

PMC Kids ride

 Back in September the kids participated in the PMC Concord, NH Kids Ride. They LOVE this event. This is the 2nd annual ride and it was just as good as the first. I have been on the committee and I am so proud to be a part of this. The kids ride their bikes, they have lunch, get their face painted, decorate their bikes, bounce in a bouncy house, and SO much more all while raising money for kids and cancer. What could be better? Here are a few of the great shots of the event!

Lillian does 4-H

This year Lillian starts her second year with 4H, working on her sewing skills. She is so excited about this that I have intergrated sewing into her school work as well. She is crafty like her Mom what can I say? :) So far she has made a couple of pencil holders, a bookmark and has even made a cornucopia for Thanksgiving. Our next 4H project will be Christmas ornaments.



Lillian with her friend (also named Lillian)





Working on the sewing machine



inside pencil holder

Cornucopia