EVERYTHING IS BLOOMING IN NEW MILFORD, PA (finally)

New Milford was in bloom when I returned from a two week visit with grand babies in Texas.  This is a different world from West Texas, which is going in to the third year of a severe drought.

It seemed like everything was yellow, red or pink.  I have no idea what these shrubs are but they are beautiful!

Daffodils grow wild on the roadsides, and are in nearly every yard.

Yellow, white and pink in one yard on Church Street.

The tulips were completely opened.

This is a yard over by St. Mark's Episcopal Church.

These are magnolia trees.  Most people are probably used to  magnolias with the big white blooms that you see in Houston, San Antonio, and sometimes even in West Texas.

The blossoms are not nearly as big as the white magnolia, but it is easy to see the family resemblance.

One of the most beautiful houses in New Milford is a bed and breakfast.

Now, the yellow blossoms are shattering, and making the streets pretty.

 These trees have white, pink or even dark red blossoms.  I tried to get  a picture of each color.

This drive way behind St. Mark's is covered with yellow and pink petals.

 I was so excited to see a real, live dog wood.

This looks like the James Avery necklace that I have!

Lilacs are about to pop open.

 I don't know what kind of fruit this tree will have, but it is going to be loaded.

These blossoms almost look like double holly hocks.  Now, there is a flower I have not seen here--holly hocks.

There are lots of violets and pansies, and

the fungi is doing well on a tree down by the creek!  It is good to be done with winter, and the bad roads along with the mud, and to see the little country side come to life.

"Flowers are appearing on the earth.  The season for singing has come.  The cooing of doves is heard in our land."  Song of Solomon 2:12

BIRTHDAY! GARRISON IS 4!

One of the highlights of my visit  with the kids was going to Garrison's birthday party (I think he is four), and seeing all the kinfolks from Bobby's side of the family.  There is a second crop of kids now, and we need to get together more often so the little ones can play and have some good memories.  They need bonding time!  Everyone finally got to meet Miss Hattie.

Aunt Rita and Uncle Garry introduced themselves to her.

Haley and cousin Bow.

Rhys loved the blow up thing, and was right at home on it.

It was a beautiful day for a party outside at Stephanie and Cody's party barn.

Robert and Miss Haley--cousin look alikes.

Aunt Rita and Miss Hattie.

Graden already needs to shave.  No, not really--the theme was "Pirates" and he was playing the part.

Stephanie and Cody had lots of game for the kids to play.

Haley and Rylan.

Robert putting Rhys' shoe back on.

Here they are, cousins and friends, ready for the next event.

Walking the plank. " Ok," Stephanie says to Rhys, "we start on this end to walk the plank!"

After walking the plank, and finding treasures,  they got to throw water balloons at the pirate ship, and here is Rhys letting one fly.

Rylan is trying to salvage a water balloon to throw again.

The ship is down but there are still balloons airborne.  Someone is going to get wet.

At last, they get to take a crack at the piñata, and here is Rhys doing his part to "bust" it open.

Gathering up the prizes.  They looked like ants on a piece of bread and honey!

Robert and Stephanie.

Rhys putting on his pirate face and growling like a mean old sea dog.  That is Garrett's dog in the back ground.

Garrison got lots of presents to round out the day.  Happy birthday, big boy!

 And last but not least, we see Averie lolling around waiting to get her senior pictures made.

If your want to see the pictures, go to Rita's FB page and take a look.  I can't believe we have another kid on the verge of college.  The first thing we know all those babies throwing water balloons will be getting senior pictures made, and deciding where to go the school.  Well, I could go on reminiscing, but will end it here.  It was great to see everyone again before I went back to PA.  Love y'all!  Thanks for the good time.

SCIENCE SPECTRUM in LUBBOCK, TEXAS April 27, 2013

If you haven't been to the Science Spectrum, you need to make it a priority.  It's hands on, and that is the best way for kids to learn anything.  Teachers can teach the physics lesson and then the kids can actually experience the lesson at the Spectrum.  

Rhys is looking at a huge model of a dinosaur.

Look!  This floor has examples of motion, and Rhys is all about motion.

And he loves things that blink, light up, so this lightening exhibit is pretty interesting.

Acceleration?

Rhys gets right into the acceleration demo.

Sound waves!  There was plenty of noise in this exhibit because Rhys wasn't the only scholar there.

Levers and gears--just what a boy likes.

Rhys really got into the shopping experience.

"Hey girl, can I borrow that?"

Now, here is something fun.

A roller coaster in doors.

Rhys even got to do the news.  Here he is on the TV screen.

Waiting for the advertisement to end so he can get on with the sound bite.

It is more fun to mess with the buttons and knobs.

We went to the butterfly exhibit, and saw some beautiful butterflies.  They were so active I couldn't get a picture of them in flight, and I couldn't wade into the foliage to get a picture of them resting, but the Atlas moth was resting most of the time and was close, so here he is.  This was so much fun.  Rhys, I hope we get to do this every year, because there is still more to learn.