Desert Survivor's Backyard Bird Challenge--Mid-March Check-in

Have you seen any new birds in your backyard lately? We've added killdeer (two just outside the yard that we hear every few days), Canada geese (that flew over the yard early one morning), and Western meadowlark (flying across the yard and landing in a tree). The Western meadowlark are really singing a lot now. We've also been practicing the more common birds in the yard.


A pair of red-tailed hawks have been in the yard the last three days, and they've been fun to watch. The coloring on red-tailed hawks varies so much, but fortunately, when they fly, they always do have a red tail (at least that I've seen!). Red-tailed hawks are the most common hawk in the area.

Here's another view. As you can see, the trees are leafing out, so it will soon be a little more difficult to see the birds!

Migration should be continuing, so we're hoping to see some interesting birds in the next month.

Geocaching with Kids - A Great Reason to Go Outside

The weather has been super and we've been trying to go outside more, but we keep battling with the kids' desires to be on electronics inside. How can we get them excited to go outside? I stumbled across the mention of geocaching and decided this was the perfect time to explore it more.

Geocaches are hidden little treasures, with the locations shown online for free at geocaching.com (or in an app, which you have to pay for). You simply put the coordinates into your GPS or smart phone, and then go search for the geocache. Once you find it, you can write your name on the list, and if it's big enough, leave a trinket and take one of equal or less value. You can also electronically log your visit on the website or app to keep track of which geocaches you've visited.

When we checked online, we found a few geocaches near us so we went and looked for one. It was so much fun, we invited some friends to go with us to go back to it.

 The kids ready to bike to the geocache. The older ones were raring to go and soon were way ahead.

 The younger ones were so cute on their training wheels. The road was just steep enough that it was a little hard for them, but we told them they were getting stronger.

 The older kids had already found the geocache when the moms and younger kids had arrived, but then we took the time to sign into the log and get a snack.

 Then the older kids raced off to the next adventure (the playground).

 The next day Desert Boy was eager to search for another nearby geocache.

 This one was hidden a little differently. Desert Boy is already getting better with the GPS--of course it's a small, electronic gadget, which means kids will be natural with them. You should have seen his face when he realized there were games on the GPS!

One added attraction of geocaching is that signing into the logs may help his penmanship!

Desert Boy is also keeping a log of the geocaches he has visited. He likes it well enough that he is very excited to go check out two geocaches today. The map shows that there are several on the way to towns in every direction, so as we start visiting those, I think it will make the trip to town shorter, as every time we pass one, the kids will remember visiting that geocache. And in the towns, there are so many geocaches that it will be hard to decide which one to visit first!

Have you tried geocaching? What's been your favorite geocache? And if you haven't, here's the link if you're interested.

Spring Clouds

The spring clouds have been really scenic. The mountains are still snowy, but the valleys are showing more signs of spring each day (I'm listening to robins chatter outside my window as I write this). It won't be long until this field greens up. What's your favorite sign of spring?

Winter Carnival

 The local schools hold a winter carnival to raise money, and this is definitely a win-win proposition. Somewhere to go on a winter night, delicious food, fun games, and lots of prizes. You can see how excited Desert Girl was to go (in her new flower hat).

 The theme was year of the horse, and I enjoyed seeing the horse drawings from the first and second graders.

 For the adults, one of the big events of the night is Bingo. There are some very competitive players (even though it's rather hard to be competitive in Bingo!).


Bingo draws out people I hadn't seen in awhile!

 The face painting booth was very popular. Somehow I didn't manage to get photos of my kids with their faces painted, but they looked great.


What a beautiful butterfly!

 The photography booth, where you choose your own costume, was also very popular. It was fun seeing some of the adults give it a try!

 I haven't been around that many people in awhile, and it sure felt chaotic! We were glad to be running a booth in the corner, where we could go hide once in awhile. Our winter evenings are usually quite calm--or I guess some people might call them boring, but with little kids around, I don't think it's ever boring! Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun to get out of the house. Plus the school raised over $2,000.

Sunday Hike in the Gully

 When I was a kid, I remember occasionally going on Sunday drives to go explore. We didn't know where we were going, we just went to go enjoy the views and spend time together as a family.

I still love that sense of just going for a wander, and being with my family makes it even more memorable. Last Sunday we went out for a family hike in a place we've wandered before, but that holds enough twists and turns to make it different every time: a gully made in Pleistocene times.

The rock and soil is highly eroded, creating wonderful formations.

 Desert Girl climbed up near one.

While I was photographing her, Desert Boy disappeared and then reappeared with a shout.

 He had found a way (up the backside) of this tall wall. We joined him and then meandered up and down side gullies, climbing, sliding, observing how water had carved out the landscape.

 Later we went back into the main gully and just goofed around.

 The kids love showing off their balancing skills, which are continually improving.

 Desert Boy made a "restaurant" and we enjoyed the "food" he created.

 Then we started hiking out, taking a different side gully, where we found some very long roots.

 It was time to practice leaping skills, too.

Desert boy of course had to give it a try (but where the walls were a little closer together!). The afternoon was so refreshing, as we all felt like kids out exploring and stretching our brains.

Here's to a little Sunday exploration!