Ryan's Prickly Cactus

When we take Ryan and Jacob on this one particular local hike, Ryan always looks forward to a spot on the trail where there is a grouping of cacti.  He's intrigued by the sharp needles and always wants to put his finger near the needles poking out.  He's very careful, though, and has never been stuck.  On Friday, we saw that the cactus had flowers on it and he wanted to smell them but I warned him not to put his nose too close.  I know where you think this is going but it's not...he never pricked his finger or nose although he did have a week of falling on his face and he looks like he's been in a playground brawl.  So when we went to Costco on Saturday and I saw a big arrangement of cacti in a big bowl, I had to buy it to put in our backyard.  Ryan will be so excited when he sees it.  However, when Jeff and I were looking out from our family room and saw it sitting on the spa bricks, we realized it was slightly obscene looking.  Or maybe it's just us.  What do you think?

We had a busy weekend looking at tile, granite, bathroom cabinets and faucets.  We have a project coming up that I'll write more about later.  No, not our bathrooms as we've already done all three.  We're going to remodel one of the bathrooms- the one the boys use- at the house in Thousand Oaks.