We were blessed with a pair of really great days together as a family. It’s really lovely to be able to go into this week feeling satisfied and refreshed.

We spent Saturday in 1820, visiting a historical village; taking the sites, enjoying the fine weather.

Now that the snow is gone, Galen is suddenly able to get down and explore outside for really the first time in his life. It’s amazing to just watch him go out into the world on his own. He was so involved with our whole day, not just a spectator, but a hands on participant.

It was really interesting to see how different this trip was for the older boys. Our last visit had been a year and a half ago. This time around they were completely mesmerized by the demonstrations, where as during past visits they really didn’t have any interest in them at all. I think that we went back to the carding mill three times! They sat watching and talking with the potter and the blacksmith while at least a half dozen other groups wondered in and then back out again.

We had a grand picnic out on the common. I packed up brown rice noodles with kale, chickpeas and a kalamata olive sauce. There was a huge jar of roasted root vegetables, slices of mango and a whole pineapple. For snacks we brought home-made gluten-free granola (From a recipe that I just made up on the spot. It turned out wonderful! If I ever manage to recreate it, I promise to post the recipe here.) and nut butter, for a quick fix when blood sugars start to crash. There is something deeply gratifying about eating out on the ground under the sun, surrounded by babes laughing and playing.

Galen almost caused a pile-up, when he started dancing, resulting in half a contra line stopping to “awwwww”….

As always, all of the children were really pleased to be able to spend time with the animals, especially the new lambs.

Sunday morning my sweet husband came home with a flat of pansies, which found there way into the ground shortly there after. Between the pansies and the crocuses that are just starting to bloom, there is finally some color in my garden. Almost all of the snow has melted and it’s really starting to truly feel like spring.

We have a couple of purple giant crocuses blooming in other parts of the garden, but the sweet little buttery yellow and pale blue crocuses that I planted right in front have just stolen my heart. They’re so dainty and sweet.