How We Celebrated the First Day of Spring

Bike Rider Zooming Away

Looking at water bugs.

A Beautiful Sign of Spring

Our snack and story.

Snack

Vi inching ever closer to the water.

Pussy Willow

Painting her own sun egg.

Our Fire

Though it was a while back now, we celebrated the first day of spring so nicely. The girls and I went to Mount Hope Farm, and Penelope rode her bike. It is a great place for new bike riders because there is a paved and mostly even road, but no cars.

We spotted skunk cabbage, pussy willow, chives, burdock, and many other green things. The girls were fascinated by the water bugs who could scoot around on top of the water and watched them for a long time. We found a snake who was so beautiful, she stayed still for so long to let us get a really good look at her. She eventually swam away in the stream, and then Penelope found another one. We caught the second snake and all got to feel her skin and look really closely at her. We let her go, and Violet was terrified when she slithered away close to her feet. Penelope, on the other hand, wanted to hold the snake and was completely unafraid.

We had a picnic snack by the pond, we brought oranges and we read The Sun Egg by Elsa Beskow. It's a sweet book about an elf who finds a "sun egg" which is really an orange that a little boy had dropped while walking through the forest. Later, while Violet napped, Penelope and I painted some wooden eggs, and Pen made one into a sun egg.

When Steve came home we all ate dinner outside and then had a fire to welcome the new season.