Nicest March ever?

We may not have been running through our sprinklers yet (as my friend Jena's kids were in Michigan!) but we have been SO happy with the warm weather! Our daffodils are coming out and we made our first visit of the year to Red Butte Garden.

Junie wasn't sure about sitting on the grass

She preferred to stand up using Sam's leg

It's so funny how they both duck their heads as they go through this snake-tunnel, even though they've got a good two feet of clearance. I suppose it's no different than the way Sam always ducks his head when we drive into a parking garage. :)

A hopping bunny!

Visit to the Abe-iary

The Aviary has $1 admission days on Wednesdays in the winter, so we nabbed the older boys from school and drove up for a visit.  Malachi was pleased that we were going to the Abe-iary ("It's so FUN for you there, Abey!" he said) and then even more pleased when he discovered that it was "a zoo for birdies" (Abe's concise explanation).  It was an absolutely perfect March day (63 degrees! I was in short sleeves!) and we had a great time.  It was truly worth the $1 (and yes, that's a veiled reference to how relatively small this place is). :)

Daffodils out?!

Do birds have faces? This sign seems very strange to me.

  

 

There were lots of great birds to see.  The photo-ops weren't great, since most were behind fences or wire mesh, but we loved the bald eagle---

 

the scarlet . . . ibi?--

 

and the toucans, to name a few.

 

I thought this guy was the cutest bird.

 

Come again, Pelican!

Four birdies.

Oops!  Five.

I can't forget this little Junie-lark!

SO happy about all the birdies.  (Owls, in this case.)

 

I always like peacocks.

 

But I've never (!) seen one spreading out his plumage before!  This was one of the coolest things we saw.  Malachi said the peacock must be trying to "trap" the female with his feathers (he meant "attract," I think) and everyone thought it was quite funny how she just ignored him.

 

It was interesting how concave the shape of his tail was when it was displayed like this. It made a nice little fan around his head and neck.

 

 

Very interesting from behind too. I've never known about those long, stiff feathers holding the "eye" feathers up. And his rusty tail feathers are pretty too.

 

Abe and Seb and Malachi wondered if, since the female peacock didn't stick around long, the peacock was mollified by OUR interest in him. "At least he knows we appreciated it," said Abe, as Ky called out "Thank you!" to our feathered friend.

 

 

These moveable bird sculptures were, as you can imagine, a big hit

 

And naturally, this friendly birdie also made several appearances during the afternoon, letting us pet him if we were very quiet and still.

She walked around the world on her four fur feet

I have known many people who put shoes on their hands, but I've never before met anyone who first puts socks on their hands too!

Every day she gets all ready and then calls out "Bye! Have a great day!" which means she's going "off to school." She has all the essentials: her backpack, her lunch, and her blanket. I always make her give me a hug and a kiss before she goes.

Contrasts

I know March is supposed to be a month of contrasts, but this one seemed particularly striking:

1:00 p.m.

10 p.m.

I won't complain, since it seems like last year March was all cold. I love the mild winter we've been having! I think we've been able to have at least one picnic in every month since last summer. Hooray!

This one was a nice picnic, even though a little mouse bit into our cheese (through the wrapper) when my back was turned:

She then examined each little dried leaf and bark chip with great concentration.

Hmm. Very interesting.

And then she departed to explore the big wide world, leaving a trail of leaves and twigs behind her

like a little snail.

Little sunshines

I love our sunny little girlies.  Miss Junie is starting to stand up on things, sort of. She has six teeth. What else? After she nurses in the morning she sits up and then does everything all at once: coughs, sneezes, and burps. It's very efficient. Also, I thought for awhile she'd get real hair sooner than Daisy did, but she seems to have slowed in that department. Too much brain development going on, no doubt.

Miss Daisy is the sweetest little two-year-old you'll ever meet.  I just want to hug her and nibble her all the time ("Doan-eat me!" she often says, when she sees me coming. "What can I do then?" I say. "Dust gib me a NINY tiss," she concedes.)

I unapologetically dress her in daisies (or daisy-flowers, as we call them, for clarity) while I still can. I suppose this might turn her into a black-lipstick-wearing Goth in high school, but what will she do about those bright sparkly eyes?