Spring Has Arrived in Minnesota

 We had a long hard winter here with a record number of days under zero but we made it through (while having fun I might add) and have now greeted Spring with open arms.

  We are enjoying the warmer weather and having fun outside so very much! Here are some of the ways we have been enjoying Spring around here:

~Outdoor "Tea" parties once again. Megan invited Mara and I to one not long ago. It was complete with delicate looking snow cakes, birds nest tea cups (abandoned nests that had fallen down) and pine cones.

 ~Gathering maple sap. This is out at my parents place as they have maple trees and we don't. My brothers and dad created an updated way to collect the sap using the bobcat and a wood frame they made with a pallet. It isn't quite so quiet and peaceful using the bobcat but it does make it easier not have to carry heavy loads of sap through the woods on slippery snow.

~The baby goats have arrived out at my parents house too. They have around 15 kids now. Our kids love going out to see them and wish we could be out there full time right now.

 They get a bunch of loving attention - from these two pictures you would be led to believe you have to close your eyes in order to hold one but I don't think that is actually the case. :-)

 With baby goats also comes more milk. My parents are getting a lot of it again and generously sharing with us. Hooray for good raw milk!

 ~Another Spring time activity that has been going on around here has been bike riding. This year the big news on this line is that Megan can now ride on her own without training wheels. We love to bike ride as a family but we had put her on a tag-along so that we didn't have to slow down and so there wasn't this big push for her to ride on her own. This year however she pushed herself to do it and got it done.

 ~ The other "Springy" sort of activity around here happened because my "baby" sister got engaged (last month) - you know in Spring a young man's fancies turn to thoughts of love (isn't that how that old saying goes?) - and so we are having fun helping her with wedding planning. They are getting married in June and so a lot needs to be done fairly quickly. On Saturday I was able to help a little with addressing invitations and yesterday afternoon we went shopping for fabric to fix up her dress to make it more modest and pretty too. Weddings are fun especially when you are happy with the person they have chosen, which we certainly are. She is marrying our friend Benjamin who I have mentioned before concerning house sitting, canoe trip, church and so forth.

 The snow is pretty much all gone (though they had forecast that more would come) and so even though the weather is still getting chilly at times it feels like Spring and we are enjoying it!

Oh, I almost forgot - I didn't think there were pussy willows out yet but I was mistaken - we saw some yesterday! Another sign of Spring.

What Spring things have you been enjoying?

I will be linking to some of the blog parties in my sidebar.