May was probably the last cool month before summer hit so I took the girls to the park ALOT.  Probably every day.  I discovered an undeveloped neighborhood that had a giant park and about 4 different playgrounds that were virtually untouched.  So we often had the parks to ourselves.

As a surprise for us Dan took the day off of work, not to do work on the house, but to take us to the zoo and to have a date with me!  Happy Anniversary to US! (#4)  What a great day that was!  There definitely needs to be more of those! 
We took Maddy to the zoo in April for her birthday.  So that was both of the girls' first trips there, but this time, it was a Thursday (I think) and it was not crowded and we could go at a leisure pace and just enjoy the experience.  It was SO much better!

And the end of this month was the beginning of swimming season!  Whenever I take the girls to spend a day with Grandma and Grandpa Rogers in Scottsdale, I usually always take them swimming in the morning (yeah, I know, scary!!...me in a swimming suit that is...) But the girls LOVE the water so much and Ally just about jumps out of my arms as soon as she spots the pool.  And of course the splash fountains at the nearby park are always a hit!  Probably next year I will need to sign Maddy up for swim lessons.  Not sure how that will work with Ally in tow, but it is a necessity here in the land of the swimming pools!


Enjoy the pictures and remember you can click on any one to view larger and read my captions.

HELPFUL TIP #1
So my friends...yes pretty much all my friends out there that ever check in on me via this blog, listen up!  I have spoken with several of you over the last few months who are always telling me "I'm so bad at checking my friends' blogs, what's the address again??"  And I say to you...LAME!  If you check your email daily, then you can do this next thing I'm about to share with you.  You will never have to remember another blog address or try to remember to check them again.  It is called GOOGLE READER!  My sister blogged about this "must have" a long time ago and highlighted all of its wonderful benefits and even links to how you can get started.  Now click HERE to read more about it and make your life easier and more enriched because you can stalk your friends on your own time and stay up to date on their lives....that is...if they stay up to date on blogging.  But that's another issue for another time :)

HELPFUL TIP #2
If you love watermelon as much as I do, then here is a tip for you!  I am sort of a watermelon snob in that I'm very selective and particular about what makes a perfect watermelon, and one that is worthy of the time and effort it takes to dice it up for easy devouring.  Because I love it so much, I will eat sub-par watermelon if I have to, but now I don't have to!  Well, at least the last two experiences I've had, this method has proven effective!

Things to look for when selecting your watermelon:

• It's heavier than it looks
• It sounds hollow when you thump it (that was my only technique for picking watermelons before, and that just left me wide open for poor picking)
• It has a very green color and a nice yellow spot
• There are no soft spots
• Bee stings around the stem (I don't know exactly what this looks like on a melon, so maybe this one is optional?)
• SUGAR CRYSTALS....I was told about this by someone else who was helping me select a melon when I was very pregnant with Ally and she took pity on me.  They just look like black goo coming out of the stem or out of other scar marks (or as Dan says, "when it looks like a lawnmower ran over it")  I usually passed over those because it looked too mangled, but the last two melons I've brought home had the scar marks with the black goo coming out, and it has been sweet every time!  

Go here and here to see where I gathered this info.  I also wonder if anyone has any thoughts about seeded or seedless?  Though it seems you can't find seeded anymore.  I hate picking out the seeds anyway, and the last two I purchased were seedless.  Also, the one I bought from Walmart was grown in Mexico and the one I bought from Fry's yesterday was grown in USA and I kind of think the Mexican one might have been better.  Any other suggestions?  I'm going to keep testing this method as long as watermelons are in season and share it with whomever asks for tips at the watermelon bins because everyone deserves happy watermelon eating!