glorious spring.

Everything is in bloom! I tell ya, it feels good to see the green sheen in the distant trees, see the green grass, pass fields of yellow dandelions, and watch everything bud and bloom. Even with crazy high pollen counts we just HAVE to get out to look at it all! The boys knew they just had to go visit their favorite frog pond at our local gardens - so that was our first stop.


We were thinking that it was that time, and sure enough we could hear the (very loudly) singing frogs long before we were in view of the pond. The pond was full of frogs and little turtles.



The boys were lovin' it. While they lay down on the dock watching the frogs for ages, I was crawling around on my knees along the paths, taking photos of bees and flowers and grass. ;) Too glorious to miss.



We were all eventually drawn to the herb garden and then the amazing magnolia and apple blooms. The white petals flew around us like snow.


Of course the boys found the perfect tree - and with so many deeply pink petals fluttering around, they had to get up INTO the tree a little to be enveloped by it all.



Yep, tree huggers for sure!


We are lucky in Wisconsin to have so much beauty in every single season. We walk around with our mouths hanging open sometimes, it seems, in awe of just how much color and life there is.


Of course even just a big lawn of green grass and sunshine is a magnet for us too. Ahhh.


During spring every single day brings some new blossom or bud or leaf. There is so much happening, we don't want to miss a thing!

Insectivorous...

A has had a long time interest in carnivorous plants. Our local botanical garden has a nice indoor conservatory with a small collection that we always love to visit in the winter. This fall, however, they have had a special exhibit throughout the conservatory with a few new plants and lots of information.


We have returned again and again over the past week to read and re-read, explore, and examine those plants.


A has been becoming a much stronger reader, and loves being able to study all of the signs that go along with the exhibit without needing me to decipher everything for him. He has discovered a few new plants too - he saw the cobra plant, and read that there is a pitcher plant that is so large monkeys have been seen drinking out of them (monkey cups)!


It is nice to get back into our conservatory visits - as the temperatures drop and it gets dry and cold having a place to walk which is lush and green and thick with moisture is heavenly.


And lots of fun!

color my world.

It happened. Today was that day that marks the beginning of the next season in our minds. Today went above 80 degrees. Today we went to a local botanical garden and everything was SO MUCH.


We visit the gardens often, but today was amazing with so much in bloom, brightly colored, and almost fluorescent in its freshness. Intense colors, fragrance, textures, movement, life. Turtles, birds, ducklings, crabapple petals fluttering onto our heads, and flowering something every step of the way.


The colors, after a long winter and drab early spring, were so intense it was almost too much! A total assault of the senses.


We made it to this hot pink poofball flower and we all actually laughed out loud together at how monstrously amazing it was that a flower could be SO bright and fluffy and humongous. It was almost ridiculous! It was almost as big as G's head!


As we wandered through a flowering wonderland A said, "Everything looks like sorbet, even the trees!"


And G, right behind him shrieked "NO, GELATO!". :)


A wondrous day.

blue skies and tiny tubes.

Part of my wants to just write about yesterday - fun projects and getting outside with the boys to our local botanical garden on Earth Day. In the spring when it is warm, sunny and blue skies you just have to get outside! We love to wander and see who can identify the most plants and birds - always something new as the spring progresses! Watching the frantic wooing and nest building by hundreds of birds is also always a treat.


Of course part of me wants to write about my MRI today...quite the experience. I am claustrophobic, and spent the past several days thinking about it a LOT, ending up with shaky hands and sweaty palms each time. I got lots of good advice about finding one thing to think about - like a vacation or favorite place to focus on. Of course being how I am I discarded the trick the brain method and decided that I would take the direct approach. Instead of trying to overcome the LOUD hammering noises, I used them as my rhythm, and chanted silently to myself the whole time, imagining the magnetic field and hydrogen atoms aligning in my body as white light, going along with my chant. It worked, and at the end I exited that machine much lighter than when I went in. Of course from there I found out that I do have two herniated discs and degeneration in the vertebrate. Now, physical therapy here I come!


But enough about spines and freakishly small spaces. We are so lucky to live only a few miles from the botanical gardens and during this time of year when things are always blooming and changing, we like going a few times a week for some fresh air, sunshine, and exploration. We often have the most interesting conversations as we wander there.


I know many people love the daffodils and crocuses of spring. Me, I love the magnolia trees. I love seeing those huge fuzzy buds when there is still sometimes snow on the ground. By the time the giant, beautiful, fragrant blooms have erupted, I know spring is in full swing. The last time we went it was all fuzz, this time, the blooms are here. With all of this warmer weather will come lots of hikes, adventures, gardening, travel and exploring with my two little guys. Time to get my back solid and strong so I can keep up and enjoy our long busy summer!