Itching For Spring

I absolutely LOVE this time of year!   

Spring!  

The time when the world starts coming out of its cold, gray, lifeless hibernation of winter and starts transforming into a sun drenched, green, and vibrant world again. 

The time of year when I can put my hands in the earth again and help bring my beautiful and colorful yard back to life.

Spring!

It is SO much easier for me to get out of bed and greet my day when I wake to the cheerful songs of birds just outside my bedroom window, and the sun brilliantly trying to peak through the cracks in the curtains. 

I have so missed the feeling of warm sun on my skin as I fiddle in the garden, or as I sit outside and watch my little one ride his bike or scooter up and down the sidewalk, or color me a beautiful chalk picture on the driveway.  

Thank the heavens, these glorious days are now just around the corner!! And even though I am sure that winter is not quite ready to loosen its death grip on the weather just yet, I am slowly getting a glimpse, here and there, of what is coming and I am so ready!!!

Last Friday was one such glorious glimpse.  It was one of those perfect days that you want to burn into your memory, so you can think about it next winter when the gloom and cold threaten to take over once again.

The day started off with a little spring cleaning.  Now some of you may be wondering how cleaning could have made it into my idea of a "perfect" day, but call me crazy - I love cleaning.  Or perhaps it is the clean house afterward that I love?!?!  Anyway, cleaning my home on a brilliantly sunny morning is a perfect start for me, and that is just what happened.  Plus, it was made that much sweeter when I had a little helper=)

Once the house was in sparkling order, we headed out for lunch at one of our favorite spots, In-N-Out burger.  Ian was really good and we had a wonderful time.  

After lunch, it was time for some fun at the park.  Now, we have a small neighborhood park just one street over from our house, and we have been there several times in the last couple of months.  Any chance we could get, really, when the sun was shining and it wasn't snowing.  We would bundle up in hats, coats and gloves and slide for all of 10 minutes before our noses started running.  

It was fun. Very cold, but fun to get out.

But this day was different.  This time we went to a bigger park, a little farther away, and there were no hats and gloves necessary.  In fact, shoes weren't even warranted!  (Ian chose to wear flip-flops so he could be like Daddy, and they came off the first few minutes we were there.  It seems we will need to get a bigger pair for this summer because these ones were a little snug and Ian kept saying "hurt feet"!)

We spent almost an hour going up and down the playground, giggling and squealing, thoroughly enjoying the spring-like day. (It was so bright that I couldn't see the display on my phone and this was the only semi-decent picture I got at the park.)

Once we got home, we realized that it was still WAY too nice of a day to go inside, so we sat in the front yard to eat popsicles and watch Ian ride his scooter and finish off his lunch.

As an added bonus, we finished off the day with dinner at Olive Garden and a hilarious musical/play with my sister and her hubby.  It was a such a fun date night, and rounded out our wonderful spring day perfectly!!

And this may very well just be the cutest picture ever taken, but as you can see, Ian had some great fun too  with Grandma and Grandpa Millgate while we were gone.  

Mmmm... I just LOVE that little chick to pieces!!!