Welcome Spring!

Spring is here! The weather is in the 50s and on good days 60s and there was one day so far when I did not need to wear a huge coat! I should be out singing like the Who's down in Whoville do at Christmas time to welcome in Spring.

The city is coming to life and it is a beautiful sight. We live close to a couple of community gardens and we have been checking out which flowers and plants are growing. When Grandma was here she read the kids The Runaway Bunny, and in the story it talked about the crocus flower which there happened to be some growing in one of the gardens next to us. Now every time we go by a crocus we have to take a picture with it. There Cosette is with the tiny yellow crocus blossoms. 

We discovered some elephant statues one day close to our place. There were big ones and little ones. Cosette made sure to get her big one and that Henry had a little one because he is still a baby according to her.

We are getting a lot more playground time and it is making everyone happy.

Cosette with the yellow crocus in full bloom. She was excited!

We finally went to the Native American Museum downtown. Everytime we go downtown we always see and it and say we should go sometime. So it was sometime and we went with a bunch of friends and enjoyed it as much as we could. Museum guards or security guards, whatever you want to call them, took their job very seriously at this place. Great for them, bad for us. We still were able to see some stuff without them getting on to us. We will have to give it another try. On a positive note, there was a giant tepee the kids could play in and a room where the kids could touch things. 

Friends waiting to go on the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. It was a letdown for Cosette when she found out we were not actually going to Liberty Island. Another time my love. 

Awesome playground with a awesome view of the Freedom Tower. 

We particiapted in Sandsational, an event at Riverside park to help put new sand into all the playgrounds there. The kids had fun breaking in the new sand toys. 

Lyndon enjoyed getting some manual labor in that morning.

Cosette made her first sand castle of the season. She hardly leaves the sand box when we are at the playground these days. 

The Daffodils are in full bloom which is a sure sign that spring is here.

Cosette with her favorite pink "umbrella" at the Brookfield Place's current art instillation called Soft Spin. The kids had a fabulous time looking at them and finding their favorite color. 

Out and about downtown we found a field of crocuses! Not just one plant, but a field of blooming crocuses! We had to document this super exciting moment with a super awesome picture. Both of these pictures had to be included because her smile is top notch. I laughed so hard when I looked at them. 

We totally indulged in Sprinkles free cupcake day celebrating their 10th anniversary. It was the best free food deal ever! We got to pick out any cupcake they had available for free. Incredible! The kids both wanted sprinkle cupcakes and I had a lemon meringue. It was the pie in cupcake form. One of the best cupcakes I have ever had and the best one I have ever had from sprinkles. I was impressed with Henry because he picked that thing up and gobbled it up. Not all of it, but he make a good dent in it.  

Henry has become a playground champion. He is pretty independent and does not need a lot of help climbing up on things. At some playgrounds I don't even have to get up and help him which this awesome because I'm starting to feel really pregnant and running walking around the playground is getting me out of breathe. So thank you for the present my lovely boy. He loves the slide. He is a champion slider. Every time he went down this one he would plop in the sand look up with a giant grin on his face and head back to the stairs to do it again. It made my heart so happy. I love seeing these two awesome kids of mine growing and learning all these new things. They are the best!

Here is a little clip of him taking on the slide.

It was kind of the best week for free food because Ben and Jerry's was having free cone day that week too. Cosette wanted purple ice cream and they made her purple ice cream dreams come true by offering berry sorbet on the list. It was a happy happy day.

On a few of the really nice days we spend the entire day outside. We leave the house at 10am and haven't gotten home till 6pm. Those days have been the best. We come home exhausted but it is totally worth it. This picture was taken by the Natural History Museum one of those days. The city is absolutely beautiful right now. We have been waiting for these blooms for a long time. 

King Henry in his throne. This boy has come around to the swings again. For a little while there he was not a fan and would stay in them for about thirty seconds. The backward and forward motion scared him a little bit. But the other day he asked to go in one and we started out with very soft slow pushes and as he got more comfortable the pushes got bigger and faster. He stayed in the swing for a good forty minutes and that was not long enough for him. 

 Thank you spring for helping us feel alive again. I am excited for all the fun activities that are in store.