Spring

Some of you may have been experiencing Spring for the last few weeks, say since March 21st or so. Unfortunately, we have not had that delightful weather. Spring brought us 17+ inches of snow, cold winds, and thundersnow {boom!}. It seemed like a smart slap in the face after the last 8 months of Winter (I do not exaggerate).

But today was Spring. SPRING! That stay outside all day, pink sunkissed cheeks, grill out and watch the sunset kind of day...Ahhh. It was wonderful. The fam and I celebrated by going on a 2 1/2 hour nature hike on one of the local trails.

We learned lots of things like bugs live under rocks, muskrats make wakes in water, how to tell the age of a tree that's been cut down, and not to stand too close to the mud when you throw a rock into it.

Plus, the boys got lots of loot for their "rock" collection. The term rock is used very loosely here, since the "rock" collection currently houses rocks, fossils, gravel, a feather, and a paper clip. But it's very enterprising and endearing. Here's a pic of our bounty:

Some invasive grass that we're sure we used to know the name of,
section of a paper wasps' nest, rocks with possible fossil remains,
and a nasty little potato bug crawling around in there.