Change is a commin'

We have a 5 year old in the house. What that means is Kindergarten. The beginning of his school career. A whole new ball of wax for this household.
I don't think the meaning of that really hit home till we signed up for T-Ball this year.
Insert 3x/week commitments, insert "soccer Mom" (and Dad) status. Insert a very excited and overly competitive 5 year old that we, as parents, have to be able to support. Able to shape. Able to mold.
Insert a Mom who works an hour and 15 minutes away in a job that she can't exactly just drop if she is unexpectedly needed.
This equals a problem.
So there is change.
Change is hard. It's uncomfortable.
We're so excited there is a good school for Forrest in our area!
Burnt Ranch School is K-8, 15 minutes from our house, and has a current class size of 8-13 kids per grade. WOW. What could really be better for our intense, super smart, super demanding, needing challenges at every corner kiddo? We really are blessed to have this option. Though this now puts me an hour and a half away from my kid for most of the week.
Yep, change is a commin'

A break from the norm

I've gotten smart and taken a few half days off of work lately to get some longer bike rides in before my Century.  One of the days off fell during Forrest's spring break from pre-school, so after my beautiful N. Cal coastal ride, we went to the zoo!
My ride was beautiful. Mostly flat, 68 miles. I really can't believe I live in an area like this!

Patrick's Point Break

Trinidad Head and Harbor

 The Zoo was great. The boys loved the quick trip, and our zoo is nice as it's smaller and allows for the shorter visits if that's what you have time for. The red panda was Forrest's favorite. He remembered that you had to be quiet around the critter and was rather upset at me for making noise with my camera.

"Shhhh, quiet Mom!"

Red Panda takes a gander

My little monkeys checking our the monkey

We had a great time.
First of many fun Spring Break outings to come in future years.

Easter with a 2 year old and a 5 year old...

 

...Is loads of FUN! What great ages for this holiday. I really love Easter. We're not really religious, so I guess we celebrate it more as in HAPPY SPRING! Babies being born, (both of mine!), oaks are all leafing out, bulbs blooming, wild flowers going nuts, and our world has that epic look of hypercolor green that really is amazing.
So, I'll stop, and just get on with the show.
We had tons of fun with this low stress holiday, complete with the first egg dying for both boys.
 
It was short and sweet, and at the end 20 eggs were colored beautiful colors. Forrest honestly was more interested in mixing all the bowls together to make his secret concoction. I was proud of the fact we only broke ONE in the whole batch!

The Easter Bunny brought the boys a good mix of some useful fun things, (bubble bath, new bath sponges, tooth brushes,) as well as fun items, (BOOKS! new frog and fox friends, finger puppets, bubbles, blueberries, and of course a chocolate bunny sucker :-)
 

Both kids found eggs like champs.
 

 

I think Mr. Bunny needs to get a bit more tricky next year.....They were super suprised by SUPERHEROS hiding in big nesting eggs in the tree. So fun!

We spent the rest of the day playing and prepping for an Easter Dinner with our neighbors and friends. It was delicious with BBQ'd venison, a pork roast, great salads, and lots of veggies. We landed a gorgeous day to celebrate Spring, which was pretty amazing given the crazy weather lately.
 
We even got creative and planned an adult Easter egg scavenger hunt complete with clues at each stop around our place. Pretty awesome, I think a new tradition.

Jerry gets the last clue for the loot!

 Happy Easter and HAPPY HAPPY SPRING from the Fultons!

9 years of sweetness

It has been roughly 9 years since Alex and I fell into each others company that rainy spring day back in 2005. Look at us 20 somethings....! Crazy kids we were.

9 years, wow! Seems so long ago really, as I look at all that has come from those 9 years. Careers, an amazing home, the commitment of marriage, and of course, our two littles. And to think BACK to those early days. The first year of being apart of each others life and space. How magical those times were, (and how much I feel like I've aged...uggh!;-)

 Our daffodils, (March,) and tulips, (at their peak at this moment!) are super sweet reminders of the glory of Spring, which is the season we met, and the season both our babies were born.

 Happy #9 sweetheart...here's to many more daffodils, tulips, sweet memories, and great adventures.