At the park

Things are finally beginning to warm up around here. The banana trees all had to be chopped down because they died in the freezing weather. They will grow back but it will take a while. The locals are all surprised at how cold and long the winter has been. It actually got up to about 65 degrees for a while but now our highs are still only barely hovering around 50. But, it's warm enough to bundle up a bit and play on the playground without sticking to the metal or sliding into an icy puddle. So we have been trying to play outside everyday for a while. The swings went missing last fall, but they came last week with some nice new replacements that don't pinch little fingers. Matthijas loves the swing; it puts him in a bit of a trance (it's really good for calming him down) and Arcadia hardly fits in the baby swing, but she can wiggle her tiny self in (it's just tricky to get her out).