Happy Spring!

Finally it's spring! I hope this means that Mother Nature will stop goofing off with cold and ice. I mean, TWO days ago, there was no school because of ice! Thankfully, today was beautiful, the perfect day to welcome spring! We did our best to celebrate by heading to the park, with a hastily packed picnic dinner, so we could maximize our time in the warm sunshine! I brought my camera with fancy lens to practice and document...

about to take off on her belly - her tongue  has been making an appearance a lot lately

Molly is the queen of silly faces

flying high!

wheeeeee!

just hanging around. (look, she's in shade and light, and yet I think I exposed it right!)

Molly's go-to sliding maneuver

pretty old oaks at this park

dinner time!

serious face as she tells me that THREE people die each year from eating fugu, aka puffer fish

her effort at a nice face, with eyes OPEN

what Molly did when I said, give me one nice face!

posing at the bridge - not the best lighting and focus, but M looks so cute!

E's serious face as we were about to head home

asked for one more pose, and they gave me butts!

three amigos

one of my favorites!

checking out the view from the bridge - moments later, H tried to hoist M up and knocked her head on the rail

any frogs down there?

back home, I got a picture of the bunny who seems to be living near our blueberry bushes

Happy Spring!

More ice

After the lovely hike with Grammy and Granddad in warm sunny weather, we were hoping that spring was finally here. It was NOT. Last Tuesday we had yet ANOTHER snow day with school closed due to wintry conditions. This time sleet and freezing rain. After nap time, I decided it was time to get outside for a bit (we were all battling bad colds, so holing up inside had been kind of good for us), and I tried to practice some more photography skills. Pictures aren't very exciting, but you can see the girls having fun slipping and sliding on the ice and admire their bundled up cuteness.  I'm hoping we're done with that now!

Molly debates the folly of heading out to the ice

our ice rink wasn't very big. :)

bravely trekking up the street on the ice

coming back. It looks easy, but E did fall down on her bum.

pretty cracked ice along the curb

our chilly bulb sprouts

that face, with those goofy braids.

maybe neighborhood landscaping should have been put off a couple more weeks?

surveying her domain

sister hugs!

Today the weather is sunny and in the upper 60s. Let's hope spring is truly on it's way! I hope you can see signs of spring, wherever you are!

Visitor Adventures

At the end of February, we were lucky enough to get a visit from Grammy and Granddad. Despite a complicated arrival (Jason ended up driving to get them late at night!), they arrived in good spirits and the girls had a great time with them. We kept them busy! On Friday, they spent some time at home with Eliza and Molly while I ran some errands and went to school meeting. They went to have lunch at school with Hayden. On Saturday, while Jason went to work on his dissertation in the morning, we all went to Marbles in downtown Raleigh. The girls had a blast exploring and playing. Molly did end up pooping out - she had a fever that evening - but we even managed to meet up with Jason to have a successful lunch out at an aptly named place within walking distance of Marbles. In the afternoon, the girls went to the movies and I made lasagna.

full steam ahead!

water play complete with protective smocks

surf's up!

Hayden lets Granddad do all the heavy lifting

Molly tries to help out (notice her tongue!)

Granddad passes on his newly acquired carpentry skills

pooped out patootie - she sat like this for 30 minutes while the room around us buzzed with kids

On Sunday, the weather was gorgeous and we made the most of it by heading out for a hike at the NC Botanical gardens. The girls had a great time - no complaints! Even Molly walked almost the whole (~1 mile) trail! On Sunday evening, we went out for fondue for an early birthday celebration for me. Hayden and Eliza loved it - gobbling up most everything they could! No pictures from fondue, we were too busy dipping and eating and Molly wrangling. Just imagine Eliza grinning with chocolate smeared ear to ear.

exploring the first creek access

pretty creek view in winter

feeling much better, she loved carrying a stick and pounding on things

wait for me!

Jason loved the display of this sign - can you see what it says? "Storm damage!"

bridge towards the end of the trail - we went down to play in the creek some more

love those Keens!

Blizz was happy

tossing stones

more exploring - warm enough to get toes wet!

the water was very clear!

cleaning off sandy toes

Thanks so much for coming to visit - we had a great time, hope you did too! Come back again soon! (We'll even let you pick different stories to read! We will try not to send you home with snot!)