Spring!

A lot has happened since Owen's birthday back in March.  Spring has definitely sprung!

Over spring break, the kids spent time separately in Boonville with Grandma and Grandpa Cas.  Looks like Grandpa is loving it!

When Elsie was there it was cold and rainy, so they spent lots of time inside.  Got to see a lot of wildlife though.

It's never too cold for a golf cart ride

Owen had a little better weather...

He got to take his new bike on the trail

And even found a little time for the sandbox.

I found my old Capsela out in the shed!  It was perfectly preserved after all these years.  Owen thought it was pretty cool and played with it a lot after he got home from Grandma's.  He made a really cool spaceship!

Elsie got to go to a Girl Scout Dance

Elsie also won our family NCAA Bracket Challenge, so she got to pick the restaurant of her choice for the family to go out to dinner.  She picked Johnny's BBQ.  Good choice!

Softball started too.  First games are in a couple weeks.

It's been annoyingly windy lately, but one good thing you can do with wind is to fly a kite.

Owen got a rock crawler RC car with his birthday money.  We took it down inside of a new foundation hole across the street to see what it was made of.  

A few weeks ago, Elsie said they were doing a geography unit in school.  She and Ms. Schenk asked me to come and talk to the class about my career in the field of geography.  I was honored to share my career with the class.  I brought in paper maps and a Marine GPS unit to show the electronic version to the class.

They had lots of questions and were very engaged.  And for being such good listeners they all got Garmin ink pens.  :)

Last weekend we went to Boonville to do a tour of Warm Springs Ranch and celebrate Easter and my 40th Birthday.  Only one hitch...Sarah came down with a terrible cold and couldn't go.  :(

The ranch was really neat.  The grounds were BEAUTIFUL.  They give you a tour of the barn and horse stalls, talk about the history of Budweiser and then you get samples.  Pretty perfect!

Me and my new buddy, Jake.

After the ranch tour, we took Owen's RC car down on the trail.  It dominated the rough terrain!

Saturday we did the Easter egg hunt.  Look at them go!

Got to celebrate my 40th Birthday a few days early too.  

Easter morning, the went downstairs to find that the Easter Bunny had left eggs all over our living room.  

We had lunch at Grandma and Grandpa Cox's house and then did another Easter egg hunt.  It turned out to be a really nice afternoon.

Little Cousin Maddie got in on the fun too.

Monday was my 40th Birthday.  Elsie made me this card/sign.

And Owen painted me a little car.

Corn on the cob holders!
 (I simply do not understand how you can eat corn on the cob without them.  How do you keep your butter in check?)

This spring has been great so far.  Things are starting to get REALLY busy for us.  Elsie's softball is cranking up, Owen will be starting baseball next week, swim lessons are on the horizon, and it seems like every weekend there is stuff to do.  It is one of the busiest times of the year!

Take care
Ryan, Sarah, Elsie and Owen