Wake and Walk

 

The snow is starting to melt and we are drifting from March to April.  Merrick's Birthday is coming up but his school will be on spring break, so we took birthday treats in a week early so he could celebrate with his friends.  It will be a prelude to his birthday party scheduled at a local pizza place next week.  This didn't stop him from wearing his birthday crown around the house for a while.  I have been on break this week which has allowed us to walk to school in the morning.  I have done my best to can those memories for a rainy day; images of Merrick running off through the playground with his backpack bouncing on his back in  time.  Him and Sophia walking to meet me in the park as Merrick tosses snowballs as his sister while she carries his backpack for him.  They also managed to cross a pretty busy intersection and their faces were beaming with true self-esteem and pride when they met me in the parking lot after successfully navigating the five lanes of converging traffic.  The weather has been nice and we have sneaked out for some fleeting snow fun, but it doesn't take long before all the boots, mittens etc. are soaked with snow melt.

Sugar and Sunshine

 

The weekend is fleeting now, but not for a lack of activities.  The weather has been clear blue skies with a wintery wind competing against an ever aggressive sun that is pushing for spring.  Friday night was calm, but Saturday was a flurry of activity that overlapped into Sunday.  We had Merrick's soccer, and then quickly headed back to school...yup, School.  The kids' school was holding a Mardi Gras fundraiser.  There were cake walks and multiple games.  I purchased multiple tickets for the game and only afterwards realized that each ticket I purchased was actually for a dozen games.  In short we ended up with more tickets than gaming interest.  The cake walk was the ultimate interest game for the kids and they made a baked goods haul.  They have been pounding confectionery concoctions for the past 24 hours.  Sophia topped this off with a 15 hour birthday party sleep.  Merrick and I spent our time in the Saturday sunshine tossing snowballs, both raising and razing snowmen and eventually just throwing Merrick from one snow bank to the other, slowed only my his breathless giggles of bliss. The evening ended with a couple of Dr. Seuss stories and an early bedtime for a very wore out kindergartner. Today we were able to successfully log two more local geocaches.   One of the treasures was hidden just outside of their school in a small nature area. The other was a multi-cache that we found the first part of but then figure the second (of three) was hidden under snow and ice.  Still a great way to get outside for awhile. Sophia found the nature area cache and Merrick decided he was going to share the activity with his friends at school during 'show/tell' time.  This week will bring dance and a violin recital for Sophia so even as the winter slows we will simply shift gears for the approach of a new season.

Fleeting Flakes and Frosts

  With the potential to have any given day be the end of the snow we made some made dashes to get some outside time this weekend.  Saturday we tried to find some Ice-boulders along the Lake Michigan shoreline, but found only a bitter winter wind.  We did find some wonderfully polished ice cleaves that were crystal clear.  Once we were back in the wind for a geocache search the wind died down and it was quite pleasant and we had a nice little snack break although we never found the buried treasure.  Sunday we did head our for another ski trip.  Merrick and I hiked and Sophia used her newly waxed skis.  Another great day to make vitamin D.