::::

Happy spring courtesy of our good old Trader Joe's floral department.

And happy spring from a couple of goofy little guys.


It's been really lovely weather here. Sixties and sunny and breezy. It's been nice. The feeling of spring has to be one of the best out there, doesn't it?
I have to post about so much stuff, but I'm just trying to get rolling here again. Tomorrow....

::a walk::

I walked to pick upMax from school one of the days the last week we were in our old house. Our house is in such a beautiful area. Very much in the middle of the city, but the homes there are generally really attractive, and the yards are well groomed. Anyway, I brought the camera along so anybody that wanted to could share in the springtime beauty!

I don't remember seeing many trees like this before. We had a lot of blossoming trees in kansas city, but this is like a carnation tree or something! The flowers are huge and gorgeous. And oh so pink.

I love these trees. The flowers are almost like little cups or something, riding up on top of the branches. They're so delicate and attractive.









And my favorite little "blossom"?

Riding along in the prince's throne. We'll miss the our old neighborhood, it's beautiful!

**speaking of beautiful, go and check out this. My friend Amanda and I just started a little photography blog.  She lives in Oregon, so we're on different sides of the country.  We have a theme each week and we try to illustrate it in our own way.  I'm having a lot of fun with it.

::not yet::

It is FREEZING here. It doesn't feel like spring at all to me. It warmed up for a couple of days, but the wind is freezing. So high 50s felt like 30s to me. And now when it's in the 30s it feels like 20!!
But spring can't be _too_ far away. Because Max and I found these:

and these:





If the flowers are out it can't be too much longer, right?
We found most of these in unkempt yards belonging to rental houses. I love whoever planted them, they make me so happy to see. And I love the person that thought of early spring flowers in the first place even more! I miss the bulbs I planted at our first house in Kansas City, the ones the squirrels always ate up. I wonder if they're still blooming.

These remind me of an easter egg hunt. Just sweet little flowers coming up bravely amid all the old winter detritus.
And even though we were freezing when I took this pictures, it was still nice to be outside. And nice to see the sun.
Come spring, come!

.::Cliff Walk::.

Yesterday afternoon we got to the point where we just couldn't stand the heat anymore so we hopped in the car and drove out to Newport, RI.
Geography is very difficult for me to grasp out here, much less explain, but Newport is south of us--down on Narragansett bay. The very south end of it sticks right out into the ocean.
We thought maybe we could catch some ocean breezes down there.

We did catch the breezes, and it was a perfect opportunity for another on of my photo essays! I hope you enjoy the following.

Newport has a ton of old money mansions all along the ocean. They're beautiful. A lot of them are now museums or serve other purposes.
We stopped and took a walk on a path that led along the cliff above the ocean and behind some of the mansions. The views were really wonderful.






As usual we had to fight with Max over holding his hand, and then drag him along once we had him in our grip.
He tried to give Kris flat tires the whole way back. What a well behaved child, right?

We realized the other day that he thinks there's some sort of a difference between running away from us and walking away from us. And that walking away is ok. It was good to know so we could try to set him straight.





He looks a lot more contemplative in the above photo than he is in reality. Don't let him fool you.





Isn't the ocean beautiful?

The flora and fauna we saw were irresistible. I couldn't help but capture them for later use.









It was cooler down there, but the air was still just SO soupy. The humidity here is better than in was in Kansas City, but sometimes it's still really intense. After living in it for four years, I'm still not used to it!
But it's ok. At least the air was cooler. That's what we were looking for.



Well, that's what Kris and I were looking for. Max just wanted to swim.

That's all he ever wants to do. Soon enough I'm sure.

Thanks for coming on our walk. Does this make you want to come visit? (well except for the hot sweaty house part?)

::Happy Spring and Happy Birthday Mom!!::

In celebration of spring, and my mom's birthday (which was yesterday) and the fact that we're ALL done with school, here are some fun flower pictures I've taken in the last month or so. I do love flowers!




This is a great little tree on our street.




Cool daffodils of course!




Thank goodness for neighbors with lovely yards.




and some LOVELY tulips to finish up.





mmmmmmm. So nice.

So happy birthday to my sweet mom, and happy spring (almost summer!) to everybody!