Spring splendor

Ames is experiencing the nicest 3-4 day stretch of weather in recent history.  The days could not have been more perfect.  Seventy-five degrees, sunny, not humid, not buggy, and those white fluffy clouds you see in Pixar movies, great weather.  The only thing I feel down about is Robert has missed it all while he is on his trip.

The grass is growing like crazy, I recruited one of my favorite pre-teens to mow.  I have some of the garden in, and I would like to do something with the non-grassy spots in the back of our yard but we don't have money budgeted for that this month. 
I would bet the kids have logged 7-9 hours outside each day since Wednesday. 

Wednesday was the last day of preschool, we hit the park after, headed out to the ball field and then to a birthday party = kids running around outside until 8:30pm.

Thursday we met some preschool friends at the park at 11:00 am, and happened to run into a ton of people we know.  Guess the homeschoolers have the parks to ourselves for a couple more weeks!  What was going to be a playdate until 1:00 pm, had us arriving home around 4:00 pm. 

Friday we rode bikes to the park, hung out at home hitting balls and helping with the mowing.  We then asked Grandpa to join us at Dairy Queen for ice cream, we rode bikes and he met us there.

Saturday started with donuts and a large coffee for me (did I mention Robert has been gone for five days at this point),  we dropped by the mall to get Em a pair of shoes and to see some friends that sell at the farmers market.  We took some friends back home with us for a playdate.  Noelle napped a bit, but I am guessing the kids played 3 hours straight in the sandbox on Saturday. 
We had grandpa over for some grilled meats.

Today we took in church then I headed to Dunkin Donuts to trade in my free birthday coupon for a large coffee!  We might have eaten some Munchkins for lunch as well.  Noelle took a little nap, and then we headed out for an epic hike/exploration at a local park.  Such fine weather.  I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.... hopefully a Memorial parade and daddy arriving home.

 Run free

 We were walking along the river for much of our hike and Emily kept commenting on the logs and debri in the river and how it must be beaver work and den.  I was amazed she new they did that, she referenced the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, although those were "magic beavers".  And then all the sudden a turn in the path ahead a tree was blocking the trail.  Looks like beaver marks to me, any naturalist reading my blog can chime in...

 Found a tree to rest against

 Her favorite

We watched the ants work hard going in and bringing out sand building their tunnels.  This hill had multiple entrances which I have never taken the time to notice before.