Brandon turned 5 on March 10th. I made this "cake" for him to take to daycare. It's really a big pan of brownies. He was really happy with the Spiderman! He was worried Laedyn would touch it and mess it up.

When Brandon chose his birthday dinner - he chose Chuck E. Cheese. I invited some of his friends to join us. It wasn't really a party -- no cake or anything -- just dinner & games. We all had lots of fun! The Lombeida family joined us -- Tori is Brandon's age, and Abby is 2 years younger (I think).Brandon, Townley and Jackson on a wave runner. Jennifer came to help celebrate.

Brandon & Kaleb were in daycare together from the infant one room until Kaleb left last fall to go to public preschool. We still get together for socializing, and they are on the same t-ball team this season. Brandon really misses having Kaleb at daycare with him.

We did not have a birthday party this year. I offered Brandon the choice between a party or a trip to Dallas to go to the zoo & aquarium. He chose the trip. I'll post pictures from that soon.

March 4th was our wedding anniversary. Nick & I got dressed up a bit and went out for dinner. Jennifer came over to babysit for us. It was a very nice evening. Compared to us in 1995 at our wedding - 14 years ago ...

...and then again in 1989 when we'd only been dating for a year - 20 years ago (are you kidding me???)

(Don't know why this is sideways or ow to fix it. It's not like this on my hard drive...)

Puppet Show - Nick entertained the kids with one of the puppets Laedyn got for Chirstmas. This one is a fuzzy pink muppet monster. They LOVED it.Laedyn gave it a try too.

SNOWY DAYS...
While we were home (Ashtabula, Ohio) for the holidays, we got some snow. Being in the snowbelt it shouldn't be a surprise, but in recent years our holiday trips home haven't been big in the snow department. This was the first time Brandon experienced any significant amount of snow. Laedyn too, of course. Laedyn, Nick, and my brother, Eric, are watching Brandon play. Laedyn was not as thrilled about the snow experience as Brandon was. It actually scared her a bit.Even having Uncle Eric pick her up was not going to make her happy...

There's so much snow you can't even tell where the road is! When I was growing up there were two huge trees just past where Brandon is standing. The city had them cut down recently. It just looks weird and bare now.Uncle Eric dug around in the garage until he found an old plastic sled. He then tied on a nice sturdy rope so we could pull Brandon around in the snow.

Dad (aka Papa) did a good amount of the pulling.

He even played a little "King of the Mountain" with Brandon on the roadside snow banks. They were kind enough to pause in their game so I could take a picture.Nick even got to have a ride in the sled! Yes - they are playing in the middle of the road ... there was not a soul in site and the packed down snow was slide-ier than the snow in the yard.Our next stop was Walnut Beach for some real sledding action. The hill next to the library wasn't being used, so we decided to break it in.I couldn't resist - I had to take a turn too.

OK - so I took more than one turn. It was fabulous fun! Nick was a little more adventurous than I was!

My little snow angel ... The abomidable snow-daddy?This is the view from where we were starting to sled down the hill. You can't sled from the top because farther up is a bunch of stairs. Off in the distance you can see Lake Erie.

We walked back to the house after we got done sledding. Brandon was too tired to walk - apparently he was too tired to even sit upright in the sled. Don't worry - we loaded the giggly thing back into the sled and went home for some hot chocolate!

Sunday we went for a hike at Cadron Settlement Park near Conway. Cadron was a small settlement along the Arkansas River early on in Arkansas' history. Cadron served as a riverboat stop and was also a stopping point along the Trail of Tears. Many of the displaced native americans died from cholera, and some were buried at Cadron.

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This building, called the blockhouse, was used as a fortification against the native population across the river. It was also a meeting and gathering place for the locals. At some point it served as a private residence. The actual blockhouse is long gone - the one seen here is a reproduction.The trail at the park was a loop the followed along the river bluffs for awhile and then moved inland. Many of the river overlooks were quite nice. The trail through the woods wasn't very wide, but the whole thing was graveled. There were numerous mountain bike trails criss-crossing the foot trail the whole time. We did not see any bikers however. We did meet a family with a funny little dog named Chilly Willy. Brandon was obsessed with the name of that dog and repeatedly asked where it got it's name and why.Toward the end of the trail Brandon decided he needed a lift, literally. Nick, great Daddy that he is, carried both kids for awhile. This was Laedyn's favorit part of the whole excursion -- having her hero, Brandon, up top with her was the highlight of her day!

Before we started out on the hike, Brandon said he wanted to see the sunset. We assured him we would not be there that long ... we were wrong!He was pleased to sit on a stone bench and watch the beautiful light from the sunset reflecting on the river ... until his hands got too cold and the lure of the cookie waiting in the car got the better of him.Back at the parking lot we stopped to admire the sunset sky once more. It was fabulous!We ended the day with another self-timer portrait. Laedyn loves the beeping followed by the click and flash. She laughs and laughs ... who knew it would be so easy to get her to look at the camera and smile!!!

Last weekend Nick planned a Valentine's Day excursion to Petit Jean State Park. Petit Jean was the first state park in Arkansas, established in 1923. Nick packed a picnic, and we put on our hiking shoes & headed to the park. It was a bit on the chilly side - especially for the picnic, but we had a great time. Petit Jean is full of amazing things to explore. On our first trail we went down a big rocky hill & took a family portrait with the self timer.The hillside is covered with mounds that look like giant turtles - you can see a good example to the right of Brandon. The patterns eroded into the rock surface by rainwater are similar to the patterns seen on turtle shells. These are actually called Turtle Rocks.Brandon remembered this trail from a daytrip he and Nick took to Petit Jean last spring. He was pretty excited to show me this narrow path between the rocks. Our first destination was Rock House Cave (click on the link for an AETN video) It has been used as shelter by many over the years, and is rather large, although not terribly deep.

Along the back wall are pictographs. Some of them were a combination of petroglyph and pictograph. A pictograph is a painting made with pigments. A petroglyph involves poking holes in the rock surface to create the image. According to the signs at Rock House Cave, most pictographs are red, although some are yellow or black. The ones we could find were red(ish) and I couldn't see any of the holes of a petroglyph.Brandon and Laedyn sitting on a big boulder in Rock House Cave. Laedyn is reaching for her pacifier. She thought it was funny that Nick pulled it out of her mouth. After Rock House Cave, we drove along a loop road that had several overlooks. The road was narrow and unpaved. At some points I couldn't look out the window. I was having some serious height anxiety! There were birds gliding at eye level all along the mountainside. When we got to the first overlook, I wasn't even sure I wanted to get out - or let the kids get out for that matter. But I managed to give it a try and was well rewarded by the view. It was pretty impressive. Nick, not having any of the heigh anxiety I have, wandered over to the edge to get a better view. It was a sheer drop with no guard rails or anything. SCARY! We found a nice picnic area for our picnic, and got everything set up. Apparently we were the only souls hardy enough to eat out in the elements that day. It was rather chilly. In fact, Nick and I didn't bother to sit down at all. It was more comfortable to keep moving. Nick bought a few gourment cheeses (ala The Monk's cheeseboard...), triscuits, lunch meats, strawberries and a lovely Markko Vinyard wine that Eric gave us at Christmas. It was fabulous!Brandon was too cold to stay outside, so we cleared out the back of the Highlander and the kids had their very own tailgate picnic. With no wind blowing on them, they were very comfy and had a great time.After the picnic, we headed to the Cedar Falls overlook boardwalk. Brandon told me that the picture on the sign wasn't anything like the real waterfall. This is the overlook of Cedar Falls. Nick thought the view was much better in winter with no leaves obstructing the view. He took Brandon to Petit Jean last spring, but this was my first trip. I can't believe, in the years we've lived in Arkansas,that this was the first time I made the trip! It was just over an hour drive from Little Rock. Here's a zoom in on the falls. If you look closely there are two people down on the cliff to the left of the falls. It give a good perspective on how truly impressive the falls are. (If you look really really closely in the above picture, you can make out the blue of the peoples jackets too.) Pictures never can quite convey the scope of what you experience in person. Here's a view of Cedar Falls from the far end of the overlook trail.

The texture and pattern in the rock along the top of the ridge was really interesting. It's sandstone - created from sand deposited millions of years ago when the area was an ocean. The sand compressed and became sandstone. Then, over time, water seeped into the stone depositing iron. As rain and wind have eroded the rock away, with the sandstone and the iron deposits eroding at different rates, patterns developed in the rock which are called carpet rocks.

We checked out "Bear Cave." Once upon a time a bear wintered in this little cave. It was along a fairly narrow trail on the side of mounain. Nick could barely stand up straight in there - especially with Laedyn in the backpack! There wass a maze of huge rocky crevices to wander through. I'm glad I didn't start thinking about whether chunks fall off until after we were done exploring! The rock formations were huge. I even gave up my camera for awhile so I could climb around. This was a crevice Nick was precluded from exploring because he had Laedyn in the backpack and was off balance. We finally had to call it a day when Nick and the kids were so cold their fingers were becoming numb. Besides it was getting too dark to take any more pictures...