Backyard Gold

This spring and summer, our family has been spending a lot of time in the back yard. We have a cement pad at the bottom of our deck. Currently it holds our inflatable pool and a few of Grayson's outdoor toys. In the grass, we are in the process of putting together a swing set. When it's finished it will have a slide, two or three swings, monkey bars and a large platform for Grayson to play with his steering wheel. We also plan on putting our arbor back up this weekend. That's the one that my dad made so we could get married under it. Anyway, the reason for this post is to talk about the other thing in our backyard. Dog poop.

We spent so little time in the back yard at Valleyview that we never needed to do anything about the poop problem. Now that Grayson is walking/running all over, we need to be a little more careful about what he plays with in the yard. It's already hard to get him to stop putting rocks in his mouth. Just imagine... A few weeks ago, Grayson was walking in the grass with Trina and he stepped in a pile. Barefooted. I don't know what method she used to clean him, but I would think a wet wipe wouldn't be enough.

Rather than experiencing this again, we bought a pooper scooper. I was the first to use it and didn't enjoy the experience. I also had a winter's worth of efforts from the dogs to pick up. The next week it was Trina's turn. She worked at it for about five minutes and hated all of them. When she was finished, (maybe she just stopped, I didn't look around for more) she made me an offer.

If I solely take on the responsible for bagging the poop, she would take on any house chore. I promptly gave up dusting for the foreseeable future.

What would you make your spouse do if you were left in charge of picking up the poop?

Photos from my phone

The following pictures were all on my phone and I wanted to share them with you. The first was taken a month or two ago. I can't believe how big he is getting. This is one of my favorite pictures. When I look at it I think about all of the good times he is going to have playing in that very spot over the next few years. Adam took this picture when we were at his new house a few weeks ago. We were playing video games and drinking beer in the basement while the girls participated in a baby shower. Adam thought it was funny that I was focused on the TV while Grayson was focused on my (unopened) beer.

I remember playing in boxes in the front yard with Autumn and Tyler as a kid. The bigger the better! At this age, Grayson doesn't really need that big of a box to keep him happy.

Last weekend Trina, Grayson and I rode our bikes to the park. Grayson enjoyed cuddling with Mom on the swing set. Hopefully by the end of this weekend we will have his swing set built and ready for him to use.

We were the only ones there that morning. It felt like we had our own personal playground. I'm sure that Grayson and I will spend a lot of time at this park this summer. Who knows, maybe we will make some friends.

Happy Birthday Trina

Happy Birthday Trina!

Mother's Day Weekend 2011

Happy Mother's Day Trina. Grayson is very lucky to have you as a mother, just as I'm lucky to have you as my wife. I'm excited to see what motherhood looks like during Grayson's second year of life. I know you have taught me many things about being a parent and I will always trust your instincts. Grayson and I love you very much!The Lace Up For Learning 5k/10k/mile run was on Saturday morning. This was the culminating activity for the Hiawatha Elementary Running Club. This was the first year that Hiawatha has had a running club and it was a huge success. 132 students came to run in the morning at least once over the eight practice sessions. That is about 34% of the students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Below you will see the small group of students that ran the 5k race. None of these students had ran a road race before. They all finished with their heads held high and a smile on their face. 

After the race Grandpa Roos and I went to someones house and moved this swing set to my house. By the time we had started taking it apart, we had realized how big of a mistake we had made. We broke between 6-9 drill bits trying to take out screws. In order to get it in to the truck, we had to modify it a little.Grandpa decided to cut it in half and we can fix it later. I hope this was a good idea. If we didn't cut it, I'm sure we would still be in that backyard.

The things we do for our kids...