Four wheeling

When Calvin was just a baby, maybe even before he was born, a woman who worked with Jon gave us a burley that her daughter had outgrown and that she did not want to lug with them in the family's move. For almost four years now it has either sat or hung in our garage, in both the old and the new garage because it did, at least, make the move with us. My bike, actually, has done much the same thing, and Jon's bike hadn't made any moves and was still living in his parents' garage. Every spring thus far our intentions have been honorable and we've discussed getting the bikes looked at to make sure they were in riding order, buying helmets, and figuring what kind of hitching equipment we needed for the Joyrider. This weekend we finally moved from intention directly to obsession—it was bike to Dairy Queen or bust. Thankfully the bikes were in ride worthy condition after we pumped the tires (thankfully we bought a tire pump last year to keep the jogging stroller in tip top condition), and a visit to the nearby bike shop (not the Dexter shop, we won't go there again, but Two Wheel Tango) outfitted us with helmets (Calvin already had his). The best surprise? Hooking up the burley was incredibly easy and intuitive.

We made it to Dairy Queen.

On a side note—can you believe how green the grass is? Since you can't really see the budding trees in this picture, you might mistake it for a photo in June...

Project 365, days 92-98

A week more like summer than spring, really. We spent much of this week exploring the new growth in our neighborhood, be that budding trees, growing flowers, or playful chickadees. We also dyed eggs on Easter and spent an evening at the library.

Chickadee

We went for a walk a couple of days ago and passed this little chickadee playing in a puddle. He let us get pretty close, and he made us pretty happy, so we stopped to watch for a while.

Easter

It came and went in a haze of beautiful weather. What happened to the annual Easter snow storm? I'm still thinking that spring got confused and sent summer to descend upon us two months early. Most of our usual party suspects were out of town for the holiday this year and we missed them, but we had a great time with Gram and Grandpa (my parents), Nonnie (my Godmother, Lonnie), several brightly colored eggs, and duckcakes. This is the second year in a row that we've waited until Easter itself to decorate the eggs (nothing like waiting until the last minute) and also the second year in a row that it has been warm enough to hide and hunt for them outside, the difference being, of course, that this year the outside was much greener than last. We hunted for eggs, we grilled dinner, we ate with the house open and light, and we finished the night with duckcakes. We hope you had a wonderful Easter, too.

Project 365, days 85-91

We don't go to Ikea often, but it seems like an annual trip isn't a bad idea; We took a hike through a new nature area nearby, tried on snorkeling gear, and watched finches in the yard. During the week we enjoyed a walk through downtown where we ogled some used bikes, and had a picnic outside our library; And what better a way to end the week, and begin a new month, than with a trip to the zoo in nearly 80 degree weather—are we sure it's only April?