In the Merry Month of May

We have had many beautiful blue sky days in the merry month of May.....for many reasons!

My husband and I have been busy raking, weeding and planting in our gardens.  We have a large front lawn with a slate walled flower area near our house that we have been slowly filling with perennials. Each year we take note of what survives the winters and snowy springs that we have here on the Front Range of Colorado, and what also survives being nibbled by daily visits from deer and rabbits. My backyard has a large retaining wall and we have also been slowly filling that each year with new shrubs and perennials. This year we added some annuals to each garden to add some color.  Notice the new scarlet pink "Knock Out" roses rimmed with chicken wire? It's the only way to ensure my deer visitors don't devour them all!  I really love seeing our gardens come alive in May!

May has been a busy month....we went to a Colorado Rockies baseball game in Coors Field in Denver, with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter. We sat in the "Rock Pile" bleachers just for the fun of it.  It was my three year old granddaughter's first baseball game and she enjoyed it.

We also celebrated the end of the school year in May for our grandchildren! My oldest granddaughter's preschool had a beautiful and adorable "Continuation and Graduation Ceremony. My granddaughter is only three, so she'll continue in preschool next year. She loves the Pastor and teachers.  She really learned so much this year and enjoyed all the play time and friendships with other children. The teachers made a beautiful slide show of all the year's activities, as the song " Let Them Be Little" played in the background...that brought tears to my eyes! Click here to listen to that song on Youtube.  Children grow so fast, grandchildren grow even faster!

We also attended my oldest grandson's flag football games, horseback riding lessons, and the youngest grandson's soccer games. My granddaughters had fun playing together on the side lines.

My youngest five year old grandson began karate this year and was thrilled to receive his yellow belt in May!

My daughter and son-in-law went on a vacation trip to celebrate their anniversary and their daughter stayed with us for a week. We had lots of fun with her and she loved being with Grandma and Pop Pop!  Early one morning I took her to play in a community playground.  As you can see it has really greened up in my area!   Do you see the brick house in the distance in the last photo?

Only the stone walls stand, but this is a National Register of Historic Places!  It is the Bradford-Perley House. It was once the residence of Major Robert Boyles Bradford, a prominent Denver pioneer who founded the Bradford Wagon Road.  That wagon road was a principal route for gold rush pioneers in the 1860's to take from Denver to Leadville and South Park.  You can read more about this historic house on this Denver Post link.  My husband and I are members of our community's Historical Society, and we often do volunteer work to help maintain the house and apple orchards that were planted in the 1860's. On this day our granddaughter helped too!

The red rocks near the house are also of archaeological significance as they had been used by the paleo people who lived and hunted on the Front Range of Colorado for thousands of years. The Denver chapter of the Colorado Archaeological Society did many digs here years ago and found many interesting artifacts. You can read more about their discoveries on this link.

The last week in May we saw our youngest grandson graduate preschool!  He will now enter kindergarten this summer in the new school year.  The teachers asked each student what they wanted to be when they grow up.  There were a lot of bakers, fire fighters, scientists, police, and athletes, but our grandson surprised us all by declaring he wanted to grow up to be in the US Coast Guard!  PS--the shirts my youngest granddaughter is wearing says" Crazy hair--don't care!" She has been blessed with big blond curls and wears them well!  This little miss will be celebrating her first birthday soon--where does the time go?

Of course, at the end of the month of May, we honor and remember those in our armed forces that made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our country's freedoms on Memorial Day. Above is a photo of the National Cemetery in New York where my Father and Mother are buried together.  My Dad was a veteran of World War II and Korea, but was fortunate to be able to come home to his family. So many veterans did not.  May we always remember and honor those that served and gave all.  Prayers that there will one day be peace and an end to all wars....for our children, our grandchildren and all that follow!

I'm linking this post to the following blog events:

Seasons, Amaze Me Monday, Blue Monday, Monday of Many Blessings, Through My Lens Monday, Mosaic Monday, Life Through the Lens Monday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Inspiration Monday, Good Random Fun, Nature Notes, Grand Social, Our World Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday, You're Gonna Love It Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday, Oh My Heartsie Girl's Wonderful Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Share Your Cup Thursday, Thoughts of Home on Thursday, Travel Photo Thursday, Friday Photo Journal, Skywatch Friday, Friday Features, Share It One More Time, Pink Saturday,

Thank you to all the blog hosts!