Love is in the air, Spring, too.

There are certain "smells" you don't get in LA. One of those is "Spring is in the air." It amazes me that I haven't smelled this particular smell in 18 years, yet I recognized it immediately when I smelled it... (kind of like "Old Spice" which my Dad wore for years...)

We had THE best day today. It has taken me almost 10 months, but I think I may have found my "Afton equivalent" here on Long Island (NOT "Afton replacement" - that girl is one of a kind irreplaceable!). Her name is Jen and she has two kiddos, one Em's age and one a little younger than Benny. She loves being outdoors as much as I do, has a great attitude toward child rearing, and loves hiking / walking for exercise kids in tow. We had a blast on a 3 mile hike that took us over 90 minutes as we were constantly putting kids in the stroller and taking kids out of the stroller, wrangling little boys to stay on the path and scolding older siblings for getting too far out of sight. It was an absolutely beautiful day - mid 60s - perfect for getting some fresh air and exercise / shaking off cabin fever! At one point in the hike through the woods we passed a trail of power lines. Emma did a good job explaining to the others to stay on the path as "We can't go through electricity world!"

After lunch I almost didn't put Ben in for a nap - it was SOOOO nice that I wanted to go outside and play more! But I tossed him in the crib and after about 30 minutes of fuss fuss fuss, he crashed and Emma and I went out front to ride her scooter and dig in the freshly tilled dirt (the gardeners are finally back in action - Spring really is here!). We were outside for a good hour and a half when Spring's first "bug sighting" appeared and Em FREAKED out. She is mostly afraid of flying bugs - today was a hornet, a good thing to be fearful of. Ninja Mommy put the beast to permanent rest and she relaxed until she saw a fly - A FLY PEOPLE - and bawled like a baby, "I wanna go inside, the outside is SCARY! I wanna go inside and watch Cinderella..." So, in we went. I turned on the movie and selfishly woke Ben up from his nap so he and I could go outside and enjoy the weather! We had so much fun - Ben is incredibly affectionate when he is flying solo with a parent. He love to crawl up into our laps and gives constant hugs and kisses. It makes me wonder how ignored he must feel when Big Sister is hogging up all the attention. Needless to say, I was loving it and loving him and we were outside until I heard Emma holler, "Cinderella's all done, Mom!"