Leprechaun trap, Ft Lincoln Hike, Shot 1

Spring is here!! Not just because the calendar says it or not because the kids must be learning about it in school but because we can feel it. The weather has been amazing. We've been walking, bike riding, strollers, it feels good to let them out into the wilderness!

It's been a crazy week, I will admit, I'm ready for swim lessons to be over not because they aren't good for the kids - they love it. Look forward to it each week but because it's so much juggling. Here's how it goes - I leave work early, grab E. We head to the Aquatic Center - change and she has her swim lessons. They last 30 minutes. She gets out - I get her back into normal clothes, Grady usually shows about this time with Matt and Ains. I get him into swim clothes. Matt takes the girls and heads home to finalize supper. Grady starts his 30 minute lesson. He finishes, we change back and we go home to have supper that the others are just about finished up with. We clean up. Do baths to get the chlorine off, read books, and go to bed. For the bigs - swim nights tend to be easy sleep nights. Ains is another story. BUT we are coming down to the final weeks of swimming. E has been working hard. G needs to work a bit harder at following directions. He's fully invested in the splashing and jumping and getting wet and his kicking is a bit overzealous BUT he's a bit of a disruption. sigh. 

Was St. Patrick's this week. E was mystified by it. They must have talked about Leprechauns at preschool and how to capture them. She enlisted/forced Grady's help and they worked on a "trap" at home. Made me smile to see how she's using her ingenuity. 

I also got my first COVID vaccine shot on St. Patrick's Day. This topic, along with so many things specific to the pandemic have been controversial. People have picked sides and held their lines. It was interesting as I drove into the Event Center that I realized I'd lost count of how many times I'd done this. Something that seemed so foreign and severe last year is now commonplace to go through the mouse loop, enter the vendor garage, drive through the floor, have the test/shot/etc done, and then drive out the front side. We'd been tested so many times that way, we got our flu shot that way, and there I was again. It felt historic in a sense - it felt serene. The mood was surprisingly light among the national guard and health teams. It didn't hurt at all. Felt like a tiny little step towards a world that seemed so far away.

On Saturday, we headed out to Fort Lincoln - first trip of the season. It was good weather. The only thing was that when we got there, the road up to the block houses was closed. We decided to take the bikes out and walk up. This was a fool's move as it's practically straight up! What were we thinking. I took Ains in the stroller who for the majority of the way informed me how thirsty she was. E and G attempted to bring their bikes up. G gave up before E but Matt ended up carrying both. I'm not sure what was easier that walk straight up or Matt's decision to offroad the way down. We went to the earth lodges too and around the path a bit. Ains thought she wanted to walk but at one point just decided to start crawling - she'd had enough of the "hike." G wasn't totally convinced either but I did tell him to keep going as there were snacks in the pick up. He cleared the top of the hill and started a sharp decline down - he began to wobble a bit and Matt grabbed him. A car watched the whole thing and began to chuckle. I almost had a heart attack.

We got home and played a bit in the backyard - even looked at the garden beds and dug them up a bit.

Ains did take a slide to the face on that night at the part - gave herself a heck of a shiner and cut underneath her eye. She took it fairly well. 

ALR: Well, let's head back.
MJR: I figured we'd just cut here down the hill.
ALR: Um, what.
MJR: If we cut down here it will put us just off the back of where we left the pick up.
ALR: We don't have an offroad stroller.
MJR: Any stroller can be an offroad stroller if it goes off the road.
7 minutes later ALR is struggling and about has the stroller tipping.
MJR: Are you okay.
ALR: No! You could help me!
MJR: Hold on, let me get a picture.
ALR: Some things shouldn't be memorized in a photograph opportunity.