and suddenly...

...it's spring. on saturday, the sun came out and the mercury rose dramatically. we managed to squeeze in a final day of skiing (slushy snow, bright sun, warm air, happy skiers, and seriously the hands-down most fun we've had skiing as a family yet) on saturday, and sunday we got out the bikes, the scooters, the puddle-stomping boots, and the grill.  today, we went to the playground, we went to a tennis court.
and it seems like the good weather is sticking around for a bit. check out this forecast.



the snow is melting into puddles, which are AWESOME for running, stomping, and scootering through, over and over and over and over.



the big biker is back, and she's happy. check out the concentration on that face. you can tell, because her tongue is sticking out.


playground monkeys.

tennis club at tenney park. it was just me, the kids, and a ton of melting snow. it was a blast, and for their first time holding tennis racquets, it was kind of a huge success.
see that ball there? he actually hit that with his racquet.

and this girl is eagerly charging that ball and not caring a bit that she has no idea what she's doing. i love it.

i was kind of also eagerly charging the ball, and on one of my (many) ball retrieval trips, i returned to the court to find ramona crouched over the ground rubbing a wet tennis ball on the ground. on closer inspection, i discovered that she was actually writing. never has she written a word (except mom, dad, ramona and james) without asking how to spell it. but today? she wrote out happy. with a wet tennis ball on a soggy sunny spring day, with cold fingers in the 50 degree air. happy, indeed. totally. 

and when all the activity is over, they are so tired, but their sweet blossoming friendship is evident despite the yawns and eye ribs. they insist on weekend night sleep overs, and it goes SO well. also, it is tremendously precious.