A week of summer - in March

I am certain that the weather we have had this last week and a half has been among the most peculiar I have ever experienced. We do indeed live in the Green Mountain State. What we love is our enjoyable winters (complete with snow), our brilliantly colorful (and crisp and cool) falls, our perfect summers (lush, green, not too hot, nor too cold, nor too rainy), and even our muddy springs (they're a warm welcome after the winter, and besides, that's when the sap runs!)

Our perfect summer week, if we could special order one, would be temps in the 70s, sun every day, little to no rain...... and guess what we've had for a week or more IN MARCH? Yes, that's right! The sugaring season has come to an abrupt end, everything is blooming early, and we enjoyed being outside like we always do - just a month or two early. Record breaking weather for over a week straight. The earliest I ever remember the daffodils blooming was in mid-April. Get a load of our yard and those of our neighbors - magnolias, forsythias, daffodils, and you can even see the trees budding in the overall "street scape".... Really, it's been an incredible week.







I have shooed the kids outside a lot. And they've loved it. It's been relatively insect free to boot! (Though we have seen some lazy bees, and several of us got some mosquito bites. May the frost we're bound to get kill them for the whole season! Quickly!)



But of course, it is still March and last week and next are the time for our younger kids' annual "PE at the skating rink" (each class two times - once each week in lieu of their regular PE). It was the oddest thing to have to remind the kids to dress for skating (actually bring it along because it was too hot to dress for it) - snowpants, jackets, mittens, and long socks in tow - complete with shorts and t-shirts! Still, how fun it was. Vivace helped me put away skates in the back room after his class on Tuesday, and Constance and her little buddy dried them out front after kids took them off on Wednesday. We get another turn this coming week, but the weather will be more seasonable and fewer kids will forget their gear - which is a good thing!