Spring, Already?

We've been busy!  Winter and early spring are the BEST time to be outside here in southern Florida...   Here are a few of the outdoor activities we've done so far this year:

 

 

 

 

Last year, we ripped up one of the bridges over our creek and rebuilt it completely.  Noah is just finishing it up by putting down guide boards.  He's pretty handy with power tools :)

 



 

 

Here's Gabe, who just decided he was going to learn to ride his bike this year... he had a pretty bad spill when he was 5, and is just now ready to try again.  It took all of half a day for him to get the hang of it!  If you look behind him, you'll see our newly-cleared front field.  Andy rented a skid steer for two weeks and we pulled up 99% of the palm trees that were growing there.  Now, we are waiting for them to dry out so we can have one heck of a bonfire :)

 

 



 

 

Here's Annalee with her fairy house...  if you are a Tinkerbell fan, you'll know what it's for ;)

 

 



 

 

Elena has a way with Chowder, our Easter Egger rooster.  She loves him with all her heart, even though we think he is possessed by a demon.  Check out his crowing stance, and on Elena's lap, too!

 

 

 



 

 

Speaking of chickens, here's Chub, Noah's Black Sexlink hen.  She caught and killed a snake, then slurped it down like a noodle :)  Chickens are great for pest control!

 

 



 

 

Gabe has claimed this oak tree for himself.  He would like to have a tree house in it someday... we'll see!

 

 



 

 

Here's another view of the front field.  Now you can see Andy's office/storage buildings from the driveway!

 

 

 

 

February is strawberry time down here!  Here's a picture of our homeschool group at 31 Produce, right down the street from our house.  They grow lots of U-Pick vegetables and fruit here, so we'll have to head back again before the end of the growing season to pick more stuff.

 

 



 

 

We got a tour of the farm on a big red wagon :)  It was a beautiful, warm day and we got plenty of sun!

 

 



 

Annalee was happy to have her friends with her. 

 

 



 

Noah and his buddies had fun picking berries, too!

 



 

 

 

Heres' Elena and her friend making stinky faces at the camera.  They were waiting for the Florida snowball fight to begin.  A Florida snowball is just pantyhose stuffed with flour.  They are so much fun to throw at each other!  My kids came home from this activity with flour in their ears, hair and clothing :)

 

 

 

 

You can see the flour blowing around Elena!  She got covered with it :)

 

 

Gabe got a lot of the white stuff on him, too!

 

Annalee had a mean underhand throw!  Just look at the concentration on her face :)

 

Gabe and his buddies :)

 

 

 

I was proud of Noah and his buddies.  They were very careful around the younger kids!

 

 

 

 

 

Gabe loves to cuddle with Boomer, our English Angora rabbit.  I'm going to have to cut his hair sometime soon, but he looks so cute when he's fuzzy!  Maybe I'll learn to knit/crochet so that I can make good use of all that fluff :)