The following photos were shot at one of the new parks here in Carson City. I have no idea what the name of the park is but it’s within walking distance and we’ve all ended up calling it the “rock wall park” just because it has a mini rock wall that the kids can climb on.

Donovan on top of the red slide

Ciarra on top of the red bridge

Ciarra and Kendra having a laugh and Donovan's expense

There are more photos in this collection but they are large files and they would take up way too much room at the moment. If you would like to see more and are a part of the family, shoot me off an e-mail at: laura @ thevalladonfamily.com and I’ll be more than happy to share them with you. Other family photo galleries are set up on my facebook page.

Last month the Carson City Library had a e-book project where Kendra, Donovan, Ciarra and myself took apart in. To read and see the collaborative e-book click the link below and you’ll be promted to download it and watch via Windows Media Player.

Summer Reading Party Book

~Laura

Donovan, a mini-gamer in his own right really got into the “game” aspect of it. You can see the intensity in his little face as he worked to get that dot through the levels without touching the sides. He was determined to beat us all at the game.

Well, that was until he was surprised by the face. He totally freaked out and ran from the computer pulling Terry on top of him. Click the image to view the video.

Now, the whole time we had Donovan out in the living room playing the “game” Ciarra was back in her and Kendra’s room playing. So she wasn’t aware of what was going on. Terry called Ciarra out and set her up at the computer, meanwhile the rest of us including Donovan are trying to act all normal so she won’t catch on.

Ciarra get’s board with the game pretty quickly because she can’t seem to get the little dot through the maze without having to restart the level. Terry and Kendra help her a bit to get through the first couple of levels and then pull back.

We’re all waiting for her reaction… and the next thing you know Ciarra pop’s off with “Who did that?” when the face screams onto the screen. Little girl didn’t even flinch. Click the image to view the video.

Here we had Terry, myself and Kendra who had at least jumped a bit at the face and then Donovan who just completely freaked out… and then Ciarra. She wasn’t even phased at all.

~Laura

Kendra’s first fish,
slightly bloody.

Kendra caught her first fish today!!! Terry caught one as well and we have the pictures to prove it.

The first five photos are from our afternoon fishing trip out to Wilson Commons Pond on Friday, check out the image gallery here. The pond has a resident beaver that just swims back and forth across the water. It taunted us at one point as it swam past us with a fish in its mouth and we didn’t catch a single fish there.

Our fishing trip today was out to Davis Creek which is where the action happened. We set up on the side of the water where snow was still present and proceeded to slide all over the place.

Kendra baited her own hook, using marshmallow power bait and reeled it in as quickly as she could. Since loosing a few off the hook last year, she was not about to let this one get away. While Terry was helping her with her rainbow trout, his line caught a trout and both fish would end up being the only catches of the day.

In honor of  Kendra making her first catch, Terry taught her how to clean it  herself.

Next weekend we hope the weather is good so we can take Donovan and Ciarra out fishing, perhaps we will have more happy “first fish” pictures.

~Laura

Over the next few weekends, we will be adding our collected photos to the image gallery. Birthdays, family outings, the past few Christmas celebrations… all the pictures we’ve taken up to this point will be here to share.

Oh, and this past Halloween was a special one with the kids all decked out in costume. Kendra was a necromancer, Donovan was a ninja turtle, Ciarra was a fairy princess and I was black cat. We even have some shots of Terry wearing pink bunny ears… which really are pics not to be missed!

~Laura~