weekend of {growth}

yeah it is babeee!

this weekend was wonderful!

we woke up on saturday morning, only to find that the rain had stopped

the clouds were parting every so slightly

and the sun was pushing its way through.

we quickly jumped out of bed,

threw breakfast at the kids faces.

made a giant pot of coffee

and headed out for a much needed

"fresh air family walk/bike ride"

it was heavenly! 

the boys rode their bikes like mad men.

jack did sporadic bouts in and out of the stroller.

we walked for 2 blissful hours outside

to our favorite butcher's store to buy teriyake beef sticks (amazing!)

we thoroughly wore the boys out

our mission was complete.

we headed back home to eat some lunch,

clean up outside a bit while the sun was still shining

(who knows when we're going to get another day like this)

and accepted an invitation to my sister-in-law's place for dinner

adult conversation

laughter

and the kids got to play with their cousins all.night.long.

this is their entry.

isn't it enchanting...

 this is the view from their balcony

(breathtaking)

 these are her rules

plain and simple.

 we were able to walk outside for a bit

monkey chased the puppies with shear delight!

the kids played spy for a while.

we got to see the super preggo lambs.

 we feasted on amazing food!

(holy full stomach batgirl!)

we headed home and were blissfully in bed by 9:30 (on a saturday, man we're old)

hubby and i were just talking about giving in and getting a play structure for the kids.

we thought maybe we could make one pretty cheap

buying a few pieces off craig's list or something.

if you will it...it will come

look at what sis-in-law and her hubby gave us

for free 50!

a cute little house, slide, pirate/castle structure, and a sand box (cover included)

did i mention free 50?

we l.o.v.e. hammydowns!

we got on craig's list to check out what kind of play structures were out there.

honestly, how long can you truly keep one, right?

we thought if we found a couple super cheap ones

we could piece them together to make a good one for the boys.

we sat down with our budget and figured it would be about $100

but that is less than the $500 they are new in the stores.

 hubby started researching what was for sale

and low and behold...

he found an amazing play structure

2 swings, hanging rings, rope laddder, slide, platform, and a climbable ladder all the way across the top.

for sale...

on craig's list...

in grants pass....

and all for only $75. (what???)

 it was posted the day before so we called the guy immediately,

fingers crossed that it was still there,

but not trying to get our hopes up. it was too good of a deal to still be there, right?

the guy says, "yes its still here", i will be here for one hour before i have to leave, how soon can you get here?"

turns out, he was literally down the road from us.

done.and.done.

hubby and the kids rushed out the door to pick it up.

in between down pours of rain we all would run out and help put it together,

then run back in when the rain got really bad

waited for it to pass

and ran back out, because that's how we roll in Oregon!

as if a play structure wasn't enough "big boy" material...

this one got a big boy bed.

and L.O.V.E.S. IT!

 he went to bed last night with no fuss or complications

slept in his bed all night long.

and woke up so tickled with himself this morning.

no more babies in the allen household :(

i've been super inspired by you blog ladies and decided to make this for our room.

nothing fancy, but i sure love it.

 it's spring break and hubby is going to take friday off for a family day in medford.

we are pumped!

i'm planning on going for walks/bike rides every chance we get with this rain.

each day is a different color and we will center our outfits, foods, crafts around it.

(we'll see how that goes, today is red)

all in all...

this weekend was exactly what we needed to reenergize our spirits.

spring break 2011, woohoo!