A little stir crazy

Whenever I tell someone I live in Minnesota, their first question is usually, “Isn’t it cold there?” Well, yeah. However, it’s not how cold it gets that bothers me. Whether it’s 20 degrees above zero or 15 below, I’m still not going outside. But rather it’s how long it stays cold that just kills me. Sure there are plenty of indoor play places for the kids to stay active in the winter….believe me, we’ve visited them ALL. The holes worn into the knees of all of Cameron’s pants are evidence of how many ropes he’s climbed up and tubes he’s crawled through. But by the time March rolls around, we are all just itching to get outside. Unfortunately, despite the fact that spring officially begins in March, actual Spring temperatures don’t fall upon Minnesota until much later. Average HIGH temperatures in Minnesota—March 42, April 58, May 72. Obviously, we have a ways to go before we put away the sweaters. As a matter of fact, until this weekend, when we finally started to thaw out, this has been the view out our family room windows.

So needless to say, we get a little cabin fever by this time of year, and the kids'boredom with the usual activities begins to surface as they find new and "interesting" things to do in order to pass another day indoors.

Max has discovered the thrill of gravity and likes to drop anything in sight over the banister.

Cameron has found new uses for raw vegetables.

And I'm not sure what their intended activty was here.

Incidently, today, as the temperatures soared to 52 degrees, we went for a walk/bike ride to a local park. Evidently Cameron was just as happy as I was to finally get out of the house to breath in some fresh air. As he and Max were swinging side by side, noticing every bird that flew by, Cameron leaned over to his brother and said, “Hey Max, isn't this the best day ever?!"