Hidden Falls Park in Henderson

A brand new park ranks pretty high up on my list of really exciting things.  Especially when it is 2.5 miles from my house.

Hidden Falls Park is having it's grand opening tomorrow (Jan. 7th) at 1:00 PM.  The park is located behind Von's on Horizon & Horizon.  The address is 281 West Horizon Drive.

Jasper and I took his friend Peyton and we all went to play there for the first time today. 

Hidden Falls Park does a great job blending in with the natural surroundings.

 

 The rugged rock back drop is a welcome sight that can be viewed from the entire park.

Because the hills on the East side of the park are so high, the park is shaded earlier in the afternoon, which I am sure will be a welcome respite from in the hot summer.

At the bottom of the park (right behind Von's) there's a skate park, basketball court, and two dog parks.

Up the road there are two play grounds -- one for toddlers and one for ages 5-12, a splash pad, shaded picnic areas and restrooms.


At the top of the park there's a gazebo with picnic tables and trail head for walking and hiking.

Even though the park road continues far up the hill, there's only one way in and one way out -- near the back of Von's. 

In the big kid area (ages 5-12), the favorite item is the Slalom Glider Slide.  This is a new-fangled kind of slide that I have never seen before.

Instead of sitting in the slide, on the Slalmon Glider you sit on top of the slide and straddle it.  It definitely takes a time or two to get used to.


I think that part of the "fear factor" with this slide is that it's high up and the kids are sitting on top of the slide vs. down in a slide with sides.

The O-Zone Climber was a bit advanced for ages 6 and under.  Most of the kids that age kept getting stuck.

The Swiggle Stix Bridge is definitely a favorite for Jasper.  We were pretending there we sharks in the "water" that would get you if you fell down.

The Wobble Pod Bouncer was a lot of fun too.  This is right near the back of the slide, and gives the kids something to do while they wait in line.

The climbing wall is called the Escalator Climber, and it wasn't a big surprise that it was the older kids who were mores interested in scaling this 10 foot wall.

There are 2 spinners.  The Gyro Twister Spinner and the Stand-Up Spinner.  They could use two Stand-Up Spinners as they are a favorite. 

The toddler area includes a hopscotch, small slide, periscope, tunnel with a clear top and alphabet wall.  

Jasper had fun finding the letter "J."

Needless to say we look forward to may more adventures at Hidden Falls Park.

Hot Wheels: Assembly Required

What have I been doing today?

Finally taking down the Christmas tree and holiday decorations?

Sweeping and mopping the floor?

Cooking a delicious dinner?

No.  I assembled a Hot Wheels Criss Cross Crash Speed Car set and a Cars 2 Mega Track including: Tokyo Spinout, Spy Jet Escape and the Barrel Blow Out.

Each was on after Christmas clearance for 75% off at our Wal-Mart for $10 each.

Mike is the resident track assembler, so I was proud of myself for branching out to a new role.  :)



Jasper LOVES a good car crash.

Post track set-up had a great time playing with everything.  It was a fun filled day of crashes, spin outs and spy plane take offs.

It felt like Christmas day.  Since we spent Christmas in a hotel in Beaver this year, we only took a couple presents with us.  Today was our "set up your new toys and play all day" kind of day.

Lots of fun memories and fun times for us today.

I tried to snap a good photo of the spy plane taking off,  but only managed to get a semi-blurry picture at take-off and one at landing.

Gypsum Wash

Yesterday Mike, Jasper and I went on a fun little Jeep outing to Gypsum Wash in the Lake Mead Rec. Area.

Our favorite family activities include being outside exploring nature and having fun doing nothing in particular.

Right now the water is 20 feet lower than usual, so the shoreline is covered in white seashells.  I have a thing for seashells, so that made me very happy.

gypsum Wash place for a picnic dinner.  Up on the ridge the colorful sunset is on one side and the lake is on the other.  The water was a pink-bronze color from the reflection of the sunset and it was breathtakingly beautiful.

I was excited to spot some small red flowers that I'd never seen on any of our outings before.  I'm not sure what they're called.

We also found this large metal object that I'm guessing is an old buoy.  Jasper was quite fascinated by it and kept wanting to check it out.

Jasper brought his camera and had fun snapping photos along the trail.

The only damper to the outing was that we stayed a bit too long, and were chased back to the Jeep by a large pack of wild coyotes.  Yikes!

Christmas Pajamas 2011

Jasper was thrilled to wear his grizzly bear PJ's because he is still celebrating being tall enough to ride Grizzly River Run at California Adventure.


He has a small polar fleece blanket that I made him that just happens to be the same print at the PJ's, and he thinks it's pretty cool that his blanket matches his PJ's.



Of course he's got baby puppy with him, all ready for Santa to come.


We spent Christmas Eve in a hotel room connecting to my parent's room at the Comfort Inn in Beaver, Utah.

I just can't get over how long his legs are.  He's getting so big!

Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Winter Wonderland

We love sledding!

Let It Snow...And Bring On The Crockpot Hot Cocoa

Jasper reminds me at least once a day how excited he is for it to snow.

Some days I don't have the heart to break it to him that we don't exactly live in snow country.

Tonight he asked, "Mom, when is it going to snow in our world?"  Followed by, "I just can't wait."


It is cold here in Vegas.  Even rainy.  But somehow rain doesn't exactly feel like a wintery wonderland.

Last night Jasper and I attended the Christmas concert for Megan Gornichec's guitar students.  Felicity played and sang, "Let It Snow."  That is Jasper's new theme song.  He's decided that we just need to sing that song, and then it will snow.

Tonight we went Christmas caroling for Family Home Evening with the Schroeder's, Gornichec's and Gammett's. 

We sang to the Packer, Bashum, Bunker and Jones families.  Everyone showed up at the first house bundled up in a mix of snow and rain gear. 

Jasper wore his bright yellow rain fireman rain slicker.  When I saw Taylor and Will caroling under their umbrellas I did have to laugh a little. 

We truly were "singin' in the rain."  The weather just didn't seem to much like Christmas.

The Schroder's had us all over to their house afterwards to dry off and warm up.  Cydnee made homemade hot cocoa that was delicious.   Here's the recipe:

Crock Pot Hot Cocoa Recipe:
    1.5 cups whipping cream
    1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
    6 cups milk
    1 teaspoon vanilla
    2 cups of milk chocolate chips

Stir together the whipping cream, milk, vanilla, and chocolate chips in a Crock pot.

Cover and cook on low for 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until mixture is hot and chocolate chips are melted. Stir again before serving.

Cydnee had peppermint and vanilla marshmallows on hand to top it off.

Open Gym at Gymcats

Nov. 18, 2011

In September Jasper and I went to Gymcats for the first time.  We were just going for a free class with Rachelle and Savvy and Flint, and ended up getting hooked.

Jasper started going to the Monday morning Supercubs class on Oct. 17th.


One thing I love about Gymcats is that even though you're technically enrolled in a certain class each week, you have the flexibility call in and change to any other Supercubs class.  Which works wonderfully if you go out of town, get sick, etc.  Love the flexibility.

Jasper LOVES gymcats.  And I mean LOVES it!  His favorite thing is the rings.

On Nov. 18th our friends the Abbott's, Cropper's and Weatherly's joined us for open gym.