Come On, Spring!

The blog has grown quiet yet again. We have been busy with play dates, home projects, a little winter blues boredom, and a couple special road trips. This weekend the weather has been in the high 40's and we are getting a taste of spring. It feels great to be able to get outside to play. I'm sure it will just be a tease. That's how Midwest weather is this time of year. But the warmer weather has me focused on cleaning and organizing. I want to just purge through our house and clear out all of the unused items.

Am I the only one who starts a "spring cleaning to-do list" in January? I seriously have caught a case of needing to completely reorganize, sanitize, declutter, and redecorate every inch of the house. It's getting pretty extreme. I have even dedicated an entire week to it in my new planner for the year. Lookout March! Here I come!

And since we are talking about springtime, I have even started planning, making to-do lists, and getting "can't sleep" excited about camping trips and vacations. I have been in search of a location in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin that would have a campground and activities for toddlers, all I keep coming back to is Indiana Dunes. It's okay to go to the beach two years in a row, right?!

We are finishing our Valentine decorating and gift making this week also. I am looking forward to getting new pictures of Ryder (18 months already!) for our walls and for his Valentine's goodies. Which of course got me thinking that we need new family pictures. But since there is no greenery around here, I will have to wait for spring. It really needs to hurry up and get here.

We were hesitant to take Ryder to the City Museum in St. Louis. I had been there a dozen times, but we weren't sure he would be big enough to do much of anything. And while he couldn't go down the big slides (ten story slide...) he had a blast running around and crawling through the tunnels and metal structures. If you've never been you really should plan a trip. I can't explain to you what it's like there. But be sure to wear comfortable clothes, tennis shoes, and be ready to climb, slide, crawl, chase after your little one, and just have fun. We are excited to take him again in a couple months. It's a very cool place.