The Great Outdoors

I'm barely able to report that we spent nearly the entire day outside today! I'm barely conscious right now, but so thankful for the nice weather that allowed us all day work and play outside. We headed out around 10am when it was a mere 38 degrees but it was above freezing, and that's all I was looking for! I brought a soccer ball and a rake out, bundled Evan up and hoped for the best. The soccer ball hardly got used, but we spent the whole morning outside until 11:30 when we came in to get cleaned up for lunch. I raked about 1/3 of the front lawn and Evan did his best to help. He grabbed handfuls of pine needles, pinecones, and acorn shells and tossed them in the bag. He tried to rake. I even got him a little paper bag to collect pinecones, which only lasted about 30 seconds! He explored so many things about the front yard: the pine tree bark, tapping acorn shells on the bark, pulling pine needles apart. It's so cute to watch him learn!

I headed back out to tackle more of the lawn during Evan's nap while the air continued to warm up to a balmy 51 degrees! I was out there in a short sleeved shirt.... FINALLY! I took a leisurely walk to the park down the street to see if the snow was melted enough to enjoy it and the snow was all gone except on the baseball field... perfect! When Evan got up we headed to the park. I have been anticipating taking him to the park so much now that he's mobile enough to enjoy it. He LOVED it. After a few lessons, he was able to climb up and go down the slide by himself (video below). He also loved the firetruck and swing.