Blue skies smiling at me

Just how much fun we can pack into these first few warm days is directly proportional to how long we've been trapped inside. Yesterday we managed to hit two different parks before lunch and squeezed in one more between the time the kids woke up from their naps and dinner. (And with kids who sleep until 4 in the afternoon, this is no easy feat.) Three parks in one day, you ask? Yes...that's how desperate we've gotten.

And by we, I mean the moms who've been stuck inside with these little ones since November. If there is one thing I've learned from this long cold winter, it's that kids need to be outside. They need to run somewhere where there are no walls to stop them. They need to feel the sun on their cheeks and a breeze in their hair. They need to fall down and get filthy. Very, very filthy. They need to toss leaves in the air and watch them fall. They need to chase bugs and shadows. They need to pick flowers. They need to get sticks in their hair and dirt on their shoes.

So today, that's just what we've done.

We headed to the park early, while it was still a little chilly out, but with the promise that it would soon warm up. Abby climbed stairs and ladders, crept through tunnels and tried out every slide to determine which was the fastest and which was the slowest. Caleb, himself a budding daredevil, went right to the highest level of the equipment time and time again and launched himself headfirst down every slide he came across, shimmying to the edge, then pumping his fat little arms ahead of him and pushing off with his feet. Sometimes he pushed so hard that he would fly right off the end of the slide and into the dirt, as evidenced by the pieces of mulch I am still pulling out of his hair.

When their hands were starting to feel a little chilly, we parked ourselves on a bench in the sun and warmed up with some hot chocolate I'd brought along. Abby ran and Caleb held my hand and practiced walking around in a big field of grass nearby. After a short walk to the library to pick out some new books about Olivia, our favorite pig, and George, our favorite monkey, it was time for lunch.

Back home, I fired up the grill and threw on some hot dogs. Caleb rode around on his plastic rocket ship while Abby ran around collecting sticks because, as she explained, "I need all these sticks to make a pile of sticks."

We enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch with the sun beating down on us and now the kids are sleeping soundly. When I put them down, they were the good kind of tired--the kind where your energy is zapped from being in the sun and you simply can't play anymore.

I'll take this over that cranky stuck-inside-all-day kind of tired any day.