Monday, April 01, 2013

Lion / Lamb / Whatever


Winter is doing its best to make up for lost time, but I think this was the last "big" storm (I'm frantically knocking on my desk as I type.)  Note that local news outlets went into full "Snow-maggeddan!!" mode for this last 6-8 inches, which, to be honest, was maybe the 3rd worst storm in a very very mild winter, and lots of it turned to slush almost as soon as it came down.

But it was very good packing snow for building stuff!

 
 

 



And this is, I think a day or two later, and the playground was already partly clear:







The only sledding hill I know of is due to be demolished soon, along with the ice rink and swimming pool it's near.  The pool and rink will be rebuilt, presumably newer and better, but the hill will be gone, alas.  It's really, really flat in Chicagoland.  Which is great for a non-athletic bike-rider, but not so great for kids with sleds.

I wanted to take the kids to the hill while it's still there, but I didn't realize that the snow was already pretty much gone at the top.  Ew.  It ended about as well as you might expect: 3 filthy, wet, disgruntled kids.

 
 
A month or two ago, we went to the Lego store downtown - it was fine, but underwhelming.  I'd rather just buy lego sets on Amazon, frankly - I was expecting something bigger.  It turned out, I was confusing it with Legoland, out in Schaumburg.  We finally made it to the real thing last week, and much fun was had (though, it was insane on a Saturday.  I believe we'll make all future trips on a weekday.  And I may take earplugs.)
 


 
 
March appears to have gone with the "out like a lamb" option this year - Easter was lovely.  Maybe a bit chillier than normal temps?  But I'll forgive quite a bit for a view of the sun.  The kids dyed some eggs last week, and the Easter bunny actually thought the weather was nice enough hide them out in the yard!  (I would have thought the aggressive squirrels would have made off with some, but maybe the vinegar in the dye kept them away?)
 
 

 
 
Plus - the first bike rides of spring!  I think we were riding well into winter, technically, but even a short mild winter makes Spring a joyous thing.