Winter Thaw

Today it was 57, sunny and beautiful! We got outside to enjoy the afternoon. Took the kids on a walk and quickly realized how wet it was and headed home for boots, after their socks, showa and pants were already soaked. We sloashed and shuffed through the puddles and walked on the ice that was melting away to water for nearly an hour. The kids collected the first treasures since the snows first fell this winter. They collected seed pockets, helicopters, pinecones, leaves and a few other misc items. There were so excited at each find. They carried sticks and made patterns in the snow that they kept calling heron tracks.

After our adventure walk we spent plenty of time in a HUGE puddle of ice and melted water Then some time at our local pond "fishing the pollution out" as Rhiannon said as she pulled out trash with a long stick. Ciaran looked for frogs and was sad to admit they are likely still hibernating here in MN.

They were wet, muddy and able to kick and climb on ice, what more could little kids want? Well they wanted to stomp and jump, but as they are recovering from being sick and it is supposed to drop down to 10 degrees again tommorrow we decided against letting them get completely soaked yet, that will come sometime later this month or in April. Of course we are supposed to get snow tommorrow, _sigh_

Then on our walk home I stopped to talk with a neighbor and two girls ages 11 and 10 spent about 20 minutes teaching Ciaran and Rhiannon to play basketball. They were so good and patient with them, taking turns and helping them shoot and bounce the ball. The were kind, patient and genuinly friendly to the kids. None of them wanted to leave when we did, because Sirah was ready to climb out of her stroller after being so patient.

Home for hot chocolate and cake. Stories, dinner, and a wind down to a wonderful day. Take some time to enjoy your own winter thaw if it has not happened yet. I am guessing we will have a second thaw as we typically get a snowstorm sometimes during March or early April. Yet this year the weather has been so odd I would not be surprised if that was not true.

Peace,
Tenn