wintery back yard

We have a tiny little back yard at our new house, but just beyond the tiny chain link fence is a wonderful place for the boys to play and explore.  

These pictures were taken in February.  After a very nice week the backyard looks quite different, there is very little snow left and the pond has areas of open water.

This is the back of our cute townhouse - I almost typed little because in comparison to the houses across the pond it is very tiny.  We have from the right side of the balcony to the left side of the red siding.  We are lucky enough to have two trees on each side of the balcony.  There is a bird's nest in the one tree so we are excited to see what bird it may belong too.    We have a little patio along the back, and then about 10 feet of grass before the fence.  There are lots of dogs in the complex so Cosmo and Kiwi are having a great time smelling all the smells of the yard.  They are being very good dogs and do not go far so we no longer have to take them out on their leashes.  They met the 2 dogs from a few doors down the other day - they are big dogs as well.  I don't know why we had such a hard time finding a place that would accept a big dog because 80% of the dogs around here are very large - boxers, great danes, newfoundlanders... Cosmo is actually small in comparison to a few of them.

On the other side of the fence there is a path that goes all the way around the pond.  There is a gate just a few houses down so access to the pond area is quite easy, but also secure so the children cannot just run to the pond.  

Just outside of our complex is the community center.  There is an ice ring, tennis courts and a wonderful park.  There is also a hill where the boys have been able to toboggan.  The boys have had so much fun exploring the park and they have their new favorite park equipment.  It is a base that spins and "spider webs" (as Jack calls them) that you can climb.  It is a big heart attack factor for Mommy as Lucas climbs to the top and asks me to spin him!  Especially in his snow pants and boots, since I know mobility is not the best, but so far we have not even had a slip of the foot.  There is a horizontal layer of web half way up so if they did fall from the top they would land on that, unless they were climbing around the outside but luckily Lucas has not tried that yet - he sticks to the inside of the web.  Jack just stays to the bottom and asks to be spun "super fast".

The tennis courts (the chain link fenced section) is between the townhouses and the park.  Terrance and I hope to play once the weather is better.    There are also lots of picnic tables around the park so we will be able to have lots of picnics and not have to worry about where the nearest bathroom is or needing to bring a spare pair of clothes in case of a mess because it is so close to the house - it takes less than 5 minutes to get there, and that is with Jack stopping to investigate everything he sees.  Nothing wrong with stopping to smell the roses - it will be interesting to discover what actual flowers we will be able to smell on the walk over.

It takes about 30 minutes for the whole gang to walk around the pond, though once the snow has completely melted it will probably be a lot quicker because the boys will be able to run without worrying about ice.  There are cat tails all along the bank of the pond, and lots of other vegetation that we are unable to identify.  Lucas is looking forward to watching the plants bloom and reveal what types of plants they are.  Unfortunately there are no fish in the pond, but Lucas is hoping for frogs!  But only time will tell.

This last picture is looking across the pond to our complex.  The sun was starting to set and I thought it was a beautiful scene.