New Playground, Cold Weather

I listened to the wind howl as I edited these photos from yesterday. It was breezy and chilly yesterday, but today was cold, cold, cold. It rained most of the day, and although temperatures hovered in the low 40s, it felt more like the low 30s. As long as it doesn't snow, I won't complain ... too loudly. Still, by the end of April, I would appreciate at least warmer rains.

But, yesterday we were able to make it out to a new playground. I happened to learn about the playground the same day that Jon had to work at a home show... and the playground happened to be on the other side of the block from the home show. So, Evie and I visited Jon at the show, then I took Evie to play at the playground as the show finished up.

It was an awesome playground, and Evie had a lot of fun. She's been so ready this spring to get out and run, climb, slide, and swing. It's a little disappointing that we have to spend this week mostly inside, but it won't be too long before we have the chance to get outdoors most days. And we'll definitely be returning to this place.

In Between April Showers

Well, the 10-day forecast shows nine days of rain ahead. Boo. I hope they're wrong. It's going to be a cold rain, too. (The forecast shows a lot of days with highs only in the 40s. Brrr.) I have seeds to plant, yard work to do, and flowers that I'm waiting on to bloom. I don't have time for spring to act like it's mid-March.

In the meantime, we've had a few days here and there with mild, pleasant weather. And we do not pass up the opportunity to spend some portion of those days outside.

Easter Weekend - Sunday

Did anyone else in the Twin Cities area notice how gorgeous Easter morning was? It was warm and foggy, and the sky was so pretty.

Evie woke us up at 6-something, announcing, "The Easter Bunny came last night! The Easter Bunny came last night!" He left eggs in Evie's room and down the hallway, and he left a candy trail down the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, in the living room, Evie found her basket of goodies.

Evie is not the kind of kid who tears into things, trying to get through them as fast as she can. She has to examine...

She has to taste...

And, if she's given a book, she has to read.

There was one gift that stood out above the rest. We've only watched it three times within the past 36 hours. (If you can't tell, it's the movie Frozen.) 

And I'm pretty sure Evie started going into a sugar coma just looking at her candy.

I saved a batch a plastic eggs to hide in the yard on Easter morning. Evie settled into a came of Candy Land with her dad while I snuck outside with the eggs.

Evie enjoyed the egg hunt so much that after it was over, she took the eggs, hid them upstairs in the house, then had Jon and I go search for them.

We spent most of the rest of the day working in the yard and enjoying 70 degree weather. Evie was especially happy to get ahold of some dirt.

Plants have really started popping up from the ground over the last few days, and our maple is in full bloom now. It's so nice to see some green and to know that it will only be a few more days before the first perennial flowers bloom (our crocuses).