Outside

In connection with the last post, here's some documentation of the times we've been able to get outside.

Michigan in March means mud madness! By which I mean there's lots of mud.

Our Outdoor Adventure Baby LOVES to be outside (if she sees Niko go outside and can't join him, she screams and throws herself on the ground...and once she's outside, she just wanders around exploring everything in sight!) and had an awesome time the other night, when we joined some friends out by the playground for a picnic dinner.

Behold, the sweetest little muddy bottom ever!

Speaking of mud: another evening when we were out, Miriam found some mostly clean water in the top of something and started drinking it. As the daughter of someone who used to dip her hair in puddles, I'm pretty sure it's genetic.

 Jesse and Nikolai and some other kids ran around, waving sticks at each other (they were maybe turning each other into bad/good guys? something like that). It's always fun to watch them go.

We've also been going on family bike rides a lot. When the weather's nice, we finish dinner, leaving the dirty dishes for later as we head out to soak up the sun. We just bike around our neighborhood, following Nikolai as he goes wherever his heart takes him.

It's incredibly relaxing (even when Nikolai gets to a hill and starts complaining that it's too haaaard) and never fails to put a smile on my face.

We haven't spent a lot of time out of doors with friends yet, but this morning we saw some friends at a park. Nikolai and his friend were having a hard time sharing a rocking horse (read: Nikolai didn't want to get off) so this was the solution Niko came up with.

It was likely as uncomfortable as it looks--they got off shortly after. But boy do I love those friends!

As the weather continues on it's upward trend (which will inevitably culminate in the too-hot days of summer that I dread--not that I'm already worried about that), we're looking forward to spending much more of our time outside. And with our adventure baby by our side, I can predict that it will be a very muddy spring and summer.