Easter.

For Easter this year, we kept things simple and had a handful of family members over for brunch and bubble-blowing. After far too much blueberry french toast, a very lovely mimosa (or two), and a hearty helping of honeydew and blackberries, we traipsed outside to see where all of our beautiful eggs had got to. Gabriel and his six-year-old cousin found a few basketfuls (which we had to continue hiding for about an hour after they had been retrieved... and retrieved... and retrieved) and spent the rest of the morning playing in the sandbox and chasing bubbles.

Gabriel was given a few new toys perfect for kicking off the season. Two bug nets, a bug house complete with necklace string and microscope (something we've been using to stick cicada eggshells into), bubbles, a watering can, and a great book - I Love Dirt! - that I snagged here (one of the best places to shop for kids stuff), which is full of great, simple, season-sorted ideas for outdoor play with a little one. I have a feeling we'll be very busy indeed staining out jeans with grass and mud this summer.

Moab.

A few weeks ago, my parents, Gabriel, and I took a roadtrip down to Moab, Utah. The six hour car ride through the Rocky Mountains was lengthened by a number of short stops at rest areas, rivers, and playgrounds. The littlest one did so well (it helps to have such an animated nana sitting in the backseat) and we enjoyed a great deal of Beatles, clementines, and talking about mountains on our way there.

My parents took my brother and I to Moab a number of times when we were children, and I knew it was the perfect place to bring an almost-three rapscallion on a nice springtime adventure. The red slickrock, what the area is best known for, is very grippy and easy to climb and play on in a good pair of boots. The National Parks are full of insane natural formations and offer kids and adults a number of places to play and scamper about barefoot. We visited Arches National Park twice and spent a day at Canyonlands.

Sprung.

I noticed several months ago the changes that a passing season can have on the world: a backyard, a body, a flowerbox, a mood... I've mentioned it before, but I'm still so content to realize that every season I've witnessed as a mother has been incredibly different for me. Since having a child, something changed inside, and dramatically. I love that I notice minute changes in the color of leaves and the budding of life now, and have for the past three years. There is so much more magic in this wide, breathing world than I ever realized before. My bones, young and healthy as they may be, also notice the seasons pass. There is such a shift when the earth is ready to move on, not only in our limbs and gardens, but in the clouds that roam the skies, in the speed of the bees flying about, in the feel of the grass underfoot.

This spring is incredibly welcome, not only by myself and the happily sighing greenness outside, but by my ever-growing Gabriel and the good company that he keeps.

Oh, life. Welcome.