Is that finally you Spring??

Today was absolutely beautiful.  High of 70, sunny...just what I've been waiting for.

After all my complaining about the winter, you can bet that I took full advantage of the warm

weather while it was here.  In fact I think the only time we were inside today was for lunch

and while the two boys were napping at the same time.  

Owen and I started the day out in the backyard while Joe napped.  I tried to rake up the

leaves and clean up the garden, and Owen played and "helped" me pick up the leaves.  As I

watched him parade through my freshly raked pile of leaves over and over again I realized his idea of helping is not quite the same as mine.

Once Joe woke up I decided to use the jogging stroller for it's intended purpose and went

for a three mile run.  I have to admit I am actually pretty proud of myself.  The last time I ran was before I was pregnant with Owen.  Three miles, pushing a double jogging stroller, 

after a three year break...I felt pretty good about that one.

After I finished my running loop back at the house, we kept right on walking and went to the

park to give Owen some time to play.  He went down the slide probably 20 times.  And no

more little slides for him.  He went straight to the bigger kid equipment.

  When we had our fill of the park we went home for a lunch/nap break.  All that fresh air

did the boys good because they took monster naps which meant a nice long break for me.

But once they were up, we were back at it meeting some friends at the zoo.

(In case you're wondering about Owen's silly faces in all of these pictures, he doesn't like

to smile on demand, so I have him saying "cheese" for pictures now.  When you look at

them knowing that, you can actually hear him saying it, can't you?)

I was really excited to take Owen for the first time this year.  He absolutely LOVES animals,

so I knew he would have so much fun seeing everything now.  And he was in for quite

a show.  The very first animal we saw was one of his favorites...the lion.

And this lion was not shy at all.  I don't think I could have asked for a better view.  He

was pacing back and forth past the viewing window with all the little kids watching.

A little unnerving, but very cool nonetheless.

Next Owen got to see another one of his favorites, the tiger.

We finished our zoo visit with a ride on the carousel.  Even Joe came along for the ride.

It was such a great day and I think everyone, myself included, is going to sleep very well

tonight.  We loved the warmer weather, loved being outside, and are hoping there

are many more nice days ahead in the near future.