april showers...may flowers

if april showers really do bring may flowers, we will be overtaken with flowers by the time may gets here. for who knows how many days, it rained every. single. day. when i began writing this post (about three days ago), there was a rain/snow mix coming down outside and jeremy and i couldn't remember the last time we saw the sun. it was really exciting when the sun peeked out for a bit yesterday morning, and the sun has been shining all day today. the grass is really green, flowers are starting to pop up, and trees are starting to bud! it has been a cold, wet spring so far, and we were so ready to get outside yesterday.

the kids and i spent over four hours at our local botanical gardens. it was mostly cloudy and there was a cool breeze, but we were outside and we loved every second! we walked around the paths outside and stopped for snack time. we marveled at the flowers peeking through the dirt, chased a canadian goose (love: "goose. what you doing? i want to know what you are doing!"), and befriended a few bugs along the way. i giggled when love saw a large patch of grass and ran around on it joyfully yelling, "grass! grass! grass!" (you know your kids have been stuck inside for too long when that happens!).

i took great joy in watching love play on the playground. it has a shaky bridge that kids can walk across and i saw her approach it and then stop right on the edge. she took one step onto the bridge and then clung to the railing with all her might. she looked terrified. there were a lot of older, rowdy kids running around and she tends to be a bit timid in those situations anyway. kids ran by her and several times they pulled one of her hands free from the railing so they could run by, or they unintentionally shoved her out of the way. the bridge bounced up and down as they ran across and she just stood there, petrified. it was all i could do not to run up there and help her across, but i knew she could figure it out on her own, so i just quietly observed. she eventually looked over at me and i gave her a big smile and some words of encouragement, but otherwise i just watched. that was hard for me. and then...she slowly started across, and made it all the way to the other side! a huge grin spread across her face and i could almost see her self-confidence grow. i was so proud of her!

all of that was fun, but we spent most of our time in the huge sandbox. go figure...a large, beautiful botanical garden complex that i'm sure cost millions upon millions of dollars to create, and the kids could care less about all that...give them a big pile of sand and they are happy. love was happy to play with her little construction vehicles...she made up stories and narrated right along with her play. at one point, i heard her call, "excavator, come over here. i have a very special job for you to do!"

jobot puttered around, running the sand through his fingers and every once in awhile looked up at me with adoring eyes like he was saying, "i can't believe you are letting me play in this. it is amazing! thank you! thank you!"

it was such a good time. i love watching them learn and explore. i'm so glad they enjoy simple things like dirt and bugs. and i'm so happy that they were both covered in dirt by the time we left. i think that the more dirt on their bodies at the end of the day, the better the day was. i am really excited for this summer - they are both going to be at such fun ages. i think we have a lot of bathtub rings in our future.