Spring Cleaning

I love the thought of spring, as well as the word spring, it brings a smile to my face. But some how the words "Spring Cleaning" don't bring the same smile to my face. However, we have been working together as a family on the weekends to do a bunch of spring cleaning projects. As you can see with Ruth, having an ipod helps add some enjoyment to the job.

A Nice Spring Day?

Ruth and I have had it on the calendar for a little while that we were going to go out and look for a graduation dress today. We were not thrilled to wake up and see that it had snowed last night. (Although, I sure heard the wind blowing like crazy all night.) We started off down the road and didn't get more than a couple of miles and the road was closed due to an accident. Therefore we had to take some side roads around the accident. Talk about treacherous road conditions! The side roads were in very bad shape and it was with a big sigh of relieve that we made it safely to the main road again. So for the first hour we had to deal with poor road conditions. You got to love spring in Ontario! Although, we had some snowy roads, and high winds all day, our trip was a success. And we made some memories of this spring mother/daughter day out.

Spring Has Arrived

We have been here in Ontario going on six years now and unfortunately many times we miss out on "spring". It just seems like the winter just drags on and on. But I am happy to report that we have been enjoying some incredible weather. We have even been enjoying some flowers already and I have never had any flowers blooming in April. YEA SPRING!!!!!

Mr. Good Year

With the beginning of spring it brings different changes. It is time to pull out the shorts and pack some of the big bulky winter clothes away. It is time to pack the snow shovels away. It is time to pull out the bicycles. (Titus has really been enjoying taking his bike to school.) And it is also time to change over from the winter tires to the all season. Our first winter here we didn’t use snow tires but with the amount of snow we get here we felt like the snow tires are a lot safer. Now we might have taken off our snow tires, but we know quite well that we could still very easily get some more snow yet, although hopefully it won’t be anything that sticks for too long. And I think we will leave the snow brushes in the vehicles for a little longer yet.

Don't Pack Those Winter Jackets Away Just Yet!

Every year it seems like we play out the same scenario in our house. It will be the end of March and things will be warming up and spring will seem on its way. Vern gets all excited for the coming of spring and he packs the winter jackets and boots away. (Mind you the family enjoys the thought of no snow and warmer temperatures, and we hadn't used our winter jackets for a couple of weeks.) So on Saturday with it being March 31st. Vern worked very hard cleaning out our storage room to make room to pack the winter boots and jackets away. It was quite nice to get the winter boots packed away and out of the front hall but the kids and I cringed at the thought of our winter jackets being packed away. (After all we are living in Canada and we have gotten snow in May before.) But we thought maybe this year would be the year of full SPRING ahead, no turning back, and the winter gear could stayed packed away until the fall. However, these last few days have gotten progressively colder. We can no longer live in denial as the cold and snow is back. Ruth and I have been shivering in our spring jackets and we were ready to take the plunge to move back into our winter jackets. Like I said, this scenario has been played out in our house many times. So this afternoon after running an errand with Ruth, we came home to our winter jackets laying on the table waiting for us. (smile) Although, the thought is painful to know we are putting the winter jackets back on, at least we are warmer. We have had a bit of snow off and on today and are supposed to get about 2-4 inches of snow tonight. You know you're in Canada when - spring showers at times means, snow showers!

How Does Your Family Mark the Official Start of Spring?

So, how does your family mark the official start of spring? Is it when March 20th arrives, or is it when you can see more grass then snow, or is it when you see the tulips popping their heads up, or when you can finally be outside without your winter jacket? Well in our family we mark the official start to spring when the motorcycle is out of storage and on the road for the first time. So yes, today was the official start of spring as the motorcycle came out of "hibernation". Titus enjoyed getting a ride to his piano lesson on the motorcycle and Vern and I took a quick little ride before supper. YES! SPRING HAS ARRIVED!!! (Thanks again Greg, for giving the bike a face lift, the paint job looks great!)