Spring weather comes to West Chester

We've had some glorious weather these past few days - since Saturday actually! The sun has been shining and temperatures have been around 55F/13C which is a great improvement on one day last week which had us at 22F/-6C at 11am!

We've made the most of it and had lots of walks, been to the park countless times for a run around, and played in our garden. Despite my clean freak nature, I've been encouraging Lucy to get outside and get her hands (and knees and face!) dirty, explore the leaves and grass and be at one with nature. She often topples over and falls on her knees or hands and I can already see signs that it bothers her to be mucky - brushing off the dirt and wiping it on her jacket!

I know that we are going to love our new garden in the summer, when playing out in it will undoubtedly be a daily occurrence. There are plenty of big old trees for shade and the grass is pretty flat. The neighbours either side are already crazy about Lucy and love to see her out and about - so sweet. Hopefully they won't mind when she wanders into their gardens and knocks on their door 10 times a day!

We acquired a second-hand playhouse which I plan on constructing the next weekend day we have good weather again. It's not the prettiest, most idyllic-looking cottage (I think it was a dog-house when the previous owner's grandchildren grew out of it!) but it has a little door and a couple of windows, and is made of yellow and pink plastic which will clean up nicely with a jet-wash. The swing is already in place of course, and Laurie's boys have given one of their trikes to Lucy to whizz up and down the path.

It makes such a difference to have the sun shining. It reminds me of summer and all the lovely things that we can do, not worrying about wrapping up warm and dodging the snow showers. We are in for some more cold weather this weekend and next week, but it's easier to forgive Mother Nature for that when we've had a welcome relief from the cold for a few days.

(The photo above is of Lucy enjoying our old garden last July)