All things Spring

The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His heaven -
All's right with the world!
~Robert Browning

Sunday, Joshua and I went strawberry picking at Buckwheat Farms. It was a lot of fun...but we didn't pick too many...The competitive side of Joshua was really coming out and he wanted to make sure he picked more than I did so he wasn't very careful about choosing good berries to pick. A lot of yucky ones were getting into his bucket and I hated to have to pay for yucky ones. I kept sneaking some good ones into his bucket so that he would be the winner and then I suggested we stop picking so that we could go home and eat them. We bought some pre-picked berries also. One strawberry pie and several servings of strawberry shortcake later, all our strawberries are gone. Looking forward to picking again soon!

Saturday was Spring Daze in Cary. Joshua and I drove past Bond Park, where Spring Daze is held, to park at the parking deck of the Town of Cary. If you parked in the parking deck, there was a free shuttle to the fair...Joshua loves riding busses so we went that route. Last year, we parked at the event but had to walk and walk and walk to get to the actual exhibits...the shuttle bus dropped us off right in the middle of things. There were a lot of arts and crafts but the only thing we felt the need to buy was a strawberry/banana smoothie, a sno cone, french fries, popcorn and a hamburger (the hamburger was for me, Joshua ate everything else). We watched a pirate swordfighting show which he absolutely loved...he is really into pirates, swords and bullwhips. And we caught Magician Michael Creech...He was very entertaining for the kids. He asked for volunteers from the audience several times, Joshua raised his hand each time but was not chosen...he seemed to choose older kids, around 6 or 7. I'm sure he didn't want to get someone too young who wouldn't participate once they were chosen. Anyway, his final trick is normally to saw a woman in half, but the woman was home sick, so he was going to cut himself in half with two handkerchiefs tied together. He tied the two handkerchiefs together, chose Joshua to come up and make sure the knot was tight, which Joshua did, he then told Joshua to turn around and show the audience his muscles, which Joshua did...yes! Joshua! The kid who sometimes hide his face in my side when a stranger speaks to him stood up in front of the entire audience and showed us his muscles! I was so proud! What a Kodak moment! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me...now, back to the show...The Magician pulled the handkerchiefs and, instead of cutting him in half, the handkerchiefs pulled off his underwear! After the show, Joshua told me he wanted to go up on stage and help but he wasn't chosen to do that, he was only chosen to see the knot was tight. I reminded him that he pulled the knot sooo tight that it pulled the guys underwear right off of him...that did the trick, he thought it was funny and forgot all about not going up on stage.

Friday, we went to the park for a little while. There were only two other little girls there. Joshua and the older girl started playing together. She was very cute, but a squealer. They were playing chase and she would squeal and laugh, they would slide and she would squeal and laugh, they played in the sandbox and she squealed and laughed...it reminded me of those movies where you would see the beautiful girl in the flowing white dress playfully giggling, running around and hiding from the admiring man and then she would disappear into the mist because she was a ghost and not really there at all...I think I watch too many movies...

Thursday, Joshua had some friends over to play, Ben, Jordan and Chase. They squirted each other, Buddy, a poor frog, my plants, me and Tracy with water guns, they romped through the woods, they played on the swings, they had sword fights, they played games, they had a wonderful time together. I was so proud of Joshua for sharing his toys without making a fuss. I know it is an age thing, but I just get so excited when I see him playing with others and not hiding behind me or hanging onto me or sitting on my lap or making me play too!

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.
~Bern Williams