Just in case your wondering, we found the lost tennis ball. We've started taking walks on the canal path behind our house, mostly to throw rocks; we found the ball there in the frozen canal and I pulled it out. I was a hero. We see the resident Great Blue Hereon everyday on our walk, along with several pairs of Mallards. One day we sat and watched a muskrat gather plants and take them down into the water; we've seen egrets, Canada geese, coots, Harris's hawks, kingfishers, coyotes, quail, lots of pigeons, fake owls that don't scare away the pigeons and shore birds I need to re-learn the names of. I would take more/better photos of these outings but I usually have my hands full trying to keep Isaac from barreling into the canal.
We've been enjoying ourselves quite a bit. Other note worthy activities and finds include:
1. LOTS of thrift stores.
2. A nice little place called Huffaker hills. We didn't intend to bike there, but everything was in the van so we decided to try it out. A random guy came up to and informed us that the trails were too bumpy for the little one. We thanked him, went anyway, and found that the trail has a far bigger problem; it's way too short. But it should be a good place to walk around with the kids.
3. We finally made it too our new ward. 80% of the ward is over 60 and the primary has a population of about 10. Very sad; I was hoping for some friends, or maybe someone to offer advise on pre-schools, a few babysitters would have bee nice...
4. I love this kitchen. I've been cooking again, which is great.
5. Empty boxes mean lots of train making materials. This train was only recently removed from the living room. I've also discovered that larger living area = larger mess.
6. I'm jealous of all the snow Logan is getting. I'm not kidding. So far it only fake snows here and word is we will hardly get to use our snow shovel. Never thought I would turn into one of those people who misses snow. This is Ari and Isaac after the "big storm". The snow was gone by the end of the day. Most of it we turned into snowballs and threw them over the fence into the canal, the rest melted away.
7. We hit the downtown library for reading time last week. Five kids came; an African, an Indian, and Asian and my who Caucasians. Pretty sure a trans gender woman helped me apply for a library card, there were lots of well read homeless people around, a security guard AND they had male employees. So not the Logan library, but beautiful in it's own right. Can't wait to check out all the libraries here.
8. Seems that it's more important to have AWD or 4WD in Reno than it was in Logan. At least in Logan they plowed and salted the roads; here it's every man for themselves. I also learned a new driving technique. After it snows people don't stop for lights if they are on a hill, the whole line of cars slows early and idles forward slowly up the hill. If you stop, your wheels will spin. They must teach that in drivers ed here.
