it's spring.

can't even express how much i love spring.  the snow melts away, leaving us with stiff, dingy brown grass, and yet, i couldn't be happier by its presence.  the husband gets the stroller down from it's rack, dangling above the truck.  i'm so happy to wrap my palms around it's squishy handle.  and oh, how i wish i would have kept track of all the rotations of the GoBug's wheels.  it's gonna be a sad day when the kids have outgrown it...   

the face of a two year old. 

i get this more than smiles on some days - even a scowl or three, if i'm lucky!

but...

the typical two can change just like that!

we've been walking to the coffee shop on extra nice mornings.  it's just over 4 miles round trip, so we like to ensure that the weather will hold out long enough for extra short legs to make the trek.  dylan really surprises me with her attempt to walk the whole dang route.  (it shouldn't, but it does!)  the nice thing about having a copycat like her - she will do whatever her big brother models.  so, if i ask him to take a break, she's never far behind.    

this hill gets me every time.  i've always regret it, but nowadays, it's the perfect training for the half-marathon i'm running in 6 weeks.  there's two parts to it, if you look in the distance, there's that hump to climb as well.  it's not as long, just a nice warm up for this portion.  this part is gradual and long, not very steep, but i'm out of breath every time i walk it.  i ran up half of it on this day, with the stroller full of children, two loveys and one blue scooter.  i was whooped!

again, the half-marathon i'm running in at the end of june, ends with a killer hill.  it's much more steep, just as long, maybe more, and man, i'm not looking forward to it.  when i ran it back in march for the shamrock race, i ended up walking half of it, faster than i was able to jog it.  my goal is to have enough at the end to sprint up it with ease.  that seems foolish to type out, but if i can push 70+ pounds of humans, than i hope to be able to push myself up it - even if by that point i've already ran 11 or so miles.  let the visualization begin.  

another afternoon, we dropped off the truck for some maintenance and walked down to the park by city hall.  the grass was still a little squishy in some places so our xtra-tufs were much needed (and greatly appreciated).  no amount of sludge and muck is going to keep these kids from having fun.  just adds to it, in dylan's case.  

it's so nice to have yet one more place to take the youngsters to burn off some energy.  

jackie b.  

so completely tickled by the swings.

and yet on another great spring day, we were joined by our friends for a walk to the coffee shop.  the moms slurped down tasty, warm coffees while the little ones devoured messy chips.  all were happy, so all was well.

the girls are a year apart but get on like birth year friends.  can't you just see kaylee driving dylan to high school in 13 years?!  blowsmymind!!!  all the kids enjoyed throwing rocks into the muck and really trying their hardest not to fall in it.  jack fit right in as well, getting bossed around by kaylee - i love that he gets a little dosing of what he gives dyl!     

more spring adventures to come...