Blossom Jaunt

Penny and I joined up with Flats buddies, Karen and Paul today to check out the Cherry Blossom festival action over at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. They play it up here, much like they do down in DC, though I feel like the blossoms often open a bit earlier in DC (I guess being further South really does help a lot). There weren't too many trees in bloom just yet, but the ones that were provided plenty of fun running space for the little guys.

Penny had fun asserting herself with the older gentleman here. She's small yet, so easily tackled even when the intention is an affectionate hug. It was pretty funny stuff watching her put her hands on her hips defiantly asking not to be hugged. Paul was actually pretty good about taking note of Penny's and his mommy's repeated requests. Hey, he's three, there's only so much you can expect in these situations!

One of the better moments in the day was hunting for worms in a big bin with lots of shovels. It was incredibly engaging, maybe 20-30 minutes. Shockingly, even with a big bin like this, there were very few worms. Maybe because this was one of the best traffic areas in the garden. I think one kid found a single worm at some point. But really, there were at least a dozen who had fun digging. I suppose I should have hesitated about letting Penny play in there - it was a brand new white dress she was wearing. Alas. It was done in by the end of the day, but more by a bottle of chocolate milk than by the dirt. A good day was had by all, though, so perhaps not a total loss.

Taxes complete!

Now that I've FINALLY finished with my taxes, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted. For what seems like the last month, I would spend each night after putting Penny to bed crunching numbers, reading instructions, beating my head against a wall of forms as I got my act together so I could even begin to use TurboTax. I perhaps make things a little more complex than they need to be, but with tuition, retirement plans, inheritance, etc. there are actually a fair number of factors that were coming into play. Any night I didn't do taxes, I just went straight to bed because I've been absolutely exhausted lately.

But now....spring has finally sprung with some really nice temps (a bit rainy, but that's not a problem for folks who lived in England and a country with a rainy season recently). On my days off, Penny and I have been thoroughly enjoying any outdoor time we can lay hold of. She loves blowing bubbles, which I'm sure Nanna is excited to have us do outside instead of on the carpet. I love the commentary and now even story telling that Penny is developing. With such an improved ability to communicate, I sometimes erroneously hope that she'll be able to accurately relay how her day went. Unfortunately, either with little concept of time or generally having more fun telling stories than being accurate, I get some pretty goofy responses. I still love that when I ask her how she's doing, more often than not the response is an emphatic "Great!"

Penny has been spending more time with her cousin Christopher of late. Christopher's nanna has been ill, in the hospital and now out again recuperating. Auntie has a long road to recovery ahead, but I think she may get lots of little visitors to help brighten her days at home. Christopher here appears to be quite a speller (check out the purple) and potentially a budding musician. We'll see.

Next week is spring break and my big giant program that my grant is funding, so no promises about blogging much in the remainder of April, but I might have some sweet pictures of kids doing fun environmental things. Those would be cool to share. We'll be doing everything from meeting endangered species, to recycling games to hanging out with pullets (those are the things that get turned into McNuggets). Should be a blast and a half. So if you're in the area, do swing by Brooklyn Children's Museum as it promises to be a blast!