Fire, frogs, deer and dogs...

Sunday was overcast and high 60's for a temperature so I decided what a great time to start burning a lot of the small twigs, branches etc. that we've cut off the tree's. The girls helped start a pile near the outdoor fireplace and we started burning...

and burning....and burning..we had it going for a couple of hours and still have more to do! We won't be doing it this week however, since we are supposed to be in the mid to upper 80's and 90's for the next 3 days and then we've got plans for a couple of days so maybe next weekend we can get more burned. While the burning was going on we also got some weeding done (and yes, still have lots more to do!).
We spent part of the morning watching these guys...

We had more than a dozen of them in the backyard. We also found some more frogs while weeding! so the girls of course caught one and put it in our tank for a little while and then released it back into the wild. They love catching the frogs! We are still putting together a tank to keep one for a couple of days to watch before we release it again so they aren't allowed to keep it longer than a couple of hours tops right now. 
Then after dinner we headed out for a walk and saw...a small deer. Probably about a year old so we all stopped and watched it..watching us. LOL. It did move away a bit further to make sure we weren't to close than stopped and watched us for a while. Of course this is the first walk we've taken in the last week or two that I didn't have the camera with me! Kaitlyn spent the walk "discovering" things and taking samples to bring back home. This is why a short walk turns into an hour..But that's okay we had lots of fun anyway. The girls even ran into a few dogs the last couple of walks. Some English Bulldogs enjoyed licking Dominics feet while the girls enjoyed petting them. A couple of French Mastiffs (Dogue de Bordeaux) played with the girls for an hour the other day while we visited the park with some friends who came down for the day (their first trip to our area). Then on our walk on Sunday we met Jack a large golden retriever who let them pet him while he patiently waited for his people to throw the ball..He was very intent on that ball!
This week is going to be a bit crazy with all the stuff we are trying to get done. I have a couple of meeting to go to, passport pictures to have taken for a couple of us, passport paperwork to get in and another Dr. appointment for more shots for Dominic.
Today and tomorrow it's getting some work done - inside the house as to avoid the 90 degree weather for some of it. I'm sure at some point the sprinkler will come out later today for the kids.
The girls have decided on some of the stuff they want to learn over the summer and for the school year..So far - Artists and Architecture of France, Ancient Egypt (we still need to finish this), India, Cambodia, Turkey and Mongolia. They also want to find out more about the Oregon trail, and volcano's (hopefully with a trip to Mt. St. Helen). I'm sure they'll continue coming up with more things!!
Kaitlyn has asked if we would be able to take a fast trip to France while we are in The Netherlands on our next trip. She has decided she must try their breads, chocolate and coffee. She says she would like to visit a few places there and since we are "so close" could we please do so...I told her I'd talk to daddy about it, but no promises! She has now "enlisted" Arianna to ask as well. Sneaky!
They are so excited that they will be able to see Omi and Opa and have already come up with some idea's of things they must do while there...and it seems a Dutch Pancake at a restaurant is towards the tops of their list. A trip to a couple of the museums also made their must return to list. They are all about the planning right now!
Other than that just some normal day to day stuff going on. So I guess I better get a move on or those day to day stuff won't get done!