A Woodsy Farewell to March ...

Wednesday:  On this very last day of March, I drove over to Aman Park just to see if the Trillium were in bloom yet. You see, I've heard "reports" that the Trillium bloom in the low lying areas of the park is beyond amazing and I do not want to miss it!

It was a little bit nippy out today and the wind only worsened that ... but I dressed in my usual layers and wore a warm headband to protect my ears--so I was all set. These daffodil are pretty much the ONLY flowers I saw in my 2.5 mile walk today ... but that was just fine because, you see ...

... the TREES and the SUN and the SHADOWS were calling to me ... even in their stark nakedness, I love the trees with all my heart.

And I LOVE winding pathways, don't you?

And look! They "installed" this brand new foot bridge just yesterday! A few weeks ago when Emma and I were walking here, there was a muddy ravine where the bridge now is. Emma and I had to find a way around the mud (which we did) ... but now there is this cute little bridge to walk across. How nice!

There are many kinds of beauty in the world that God has created ... and I think that trees (every single one of them) and the LAKES are at the tippy top of my list of favorites.

Here is Sand Creek. We haven't had much water so far this spring, so the water is a bit low.

Here is one of the places renowned for its beautiful Trillium ... there are sprouts everywhere, but no flowers yet ...

The buds on the trees are encouraging ...

And ... isn't this a gorgeous path? How could I have lived in W. Michigan for the past 50 years and NOT KNOWN about this gorgeous park? Sigh. 

Somewhere around this area, I took a "wrong" turn. Once again, I was trying to get to the other bridge that is arched and prettier than the other bridge ... but I truly got lost out here today and finally gave up. I could hear the traffic out on Lake Michigan Drive, so I finally took a pathway that led me out to the main road and just walked along the grass until I found the entryway back into the park (where I was parked).

I walked past this poor dead deer ...

This is a map of the trails and the SAND CREEK ...

What the map doesn't show is the fact that there are DOZENS of side paths and not a lot of signage to direct you which way to go ... which means that naturally, I will GET LOST. That's okay. I needed the exercise today and it was perfectly beautiful out here.

March 30 Such a nice day ...

Tuesday:  There was nothing "unusual" about our day together today except that ... well, it was just SO NICE! These little ones are so precious. I'll just run the pictures with a few comments.

This picture of Matey was taken BEFORE the kiddos came over. Matey LOVES bananas! 

Here is our curly-topped IMP of a boy--Mr. Aidan Paul. He had an unfortunate occurrence in his pull-ups late in the morning which necessitated an entire change of clothing--which was difficult to find in the drawers of my dressers, but I DID find a shirt that Aidan agreed to wear; however, I did not have ANY bottoms that would fit this little boy. SO, Aidan climbed into my comfortable round lounger chair in my room, requested a blanket for a cover-up and said he would wait for his clothes to be washed. This is exactly what he did!

The entire 90+ minutes his clothes were being washed and dried, this little man entertained himself with cars and trucks, etc. in my room. Erin and I came and went with books to read to him and we kept him company when requested.

Dear Erin was very concerned for her brother's plight but did venture out to just play on her own while she was waiting for him.

Erin has a real sensitive little heart ... she was super cuddly today too.

Brendan did his usual thing of building and entertaining himself. We read quite a few books together too, which was so much fun.

Matey is rather partial to Brendan, so Matey followed Brendan all over the house today ..

We did a little bit of art work at the kitchen table (while Aidan was still self-quarantining) and made lots of fun pictures.

FINALLY ... the dryer was finished and I could return some bottoms to Aidan. We celebrated by eating a mini-ice cream cone together. Look at this little boy! He is completely something else.

I asked Brendan if he would make Matey a little house out of this empty tissue box, so Brendan grabbed a pair of scissors and went at it for awhile. The house never did get finished, but Brendan always enjoys a pair of scissors, so he was happy while he was working ...

All three kiddos played magnet tiles/cubes for a very long time this afternoon.

Mr. Serious-Face builder ...

Erin and Aidan always enjoy 30 minutes or so of "cooking" with my plastic food and pans ... they whipped me up a super dinner of hot dogs and chocolate (!!) this afternoon ...

Erin brought out the tool cart thinking she could build by herself ... only to be IMMEDIATELY taken over by her brother ... there was quite a fuss that ensued ... but we worked it out after a bit of tension with Aidan.

Matey close by the art work that Erin was working on ... Matey is in love with pencils and markers and is always trying to chew on them as we draw ...

I took the kiddos back to the place where their parents are house sitting for a couple of days. Chunky nugget baby Callaghan was waiting there for all of us to return. I snapped these pictures very quickly. They don't do him justice at all -- he is the sweetest of sweet babies ...

I kissed these cheeks as much as Callaghan would tolerate .... love these grandchildren so much.