Still brutally cold here.
Not quite as cold as yesterday, but still cold enough to call off school. I read an interesting article yesterday, announcing that the amusement park inside Mall of America was offering free rides all last night in order to give people a chance to get out and do something since it was so cold. I thought that was neat–here’s the link to the story:
http://www.twincities.com/business/ci_24854788/mall-america-free-amusement-park-rides-cold-weather
I’m so excited to get to explore our new neighborhood when it warms up this Spring. We live so close to a ton of trails and parks and sidewalks. Plus we have a nice big backyard now. Oh, and we have a deck that wonderfully overlooks the whole back yard. What’s not to be excited about?!? If only we had been able to enjoy it before it got too cold… in the first days we moved in, it would have been nice enough to spend some time outside, but I was too busy unpacking and organizing. I’ve also decided that I want to try and run one or two 5k’s this summer and I I’m pretty sure one of them will actually go directly past the back of our house! I’m excited to get out and get some exercise with the kids in the fresh air! So, how many days until it is spring again? 🙂
Thinking back about our rental house I can honestly say that the back yard is the thing I truly miss the most. It had the BIGGEST tree right smack dab in the middle of the back yard that provided cover for over half the back area. If it was raining the kids could still play out there, because it seriously acted like a giant umbrella! It had two giant gardens (which I’m sure were awesome back in their day) and even a bird bath area… I could see how with a little more TLC it would have been charming. Unfortunately, I wasn’t willing to put that much energy into it since it was a pretty dumpy rental… but I do miss that backyard. Plus it was fenced. And now that we DON’T have a fence here, I really, really, really, want a fence again. 🙂
Here are a few pictures of the rental backyard. It probably doesn’t do it justice–nature pictures never really do capture it quite right, but you’ll get the idea.
This was the view stepping right out of the dining room patio door. I did like that it had a deck–the kids really loved playing on that.
Under the giant tree!
There was another patio area (we had our grill by this one)…
the two gardens–like I said, they were in need of some more TLC. I liked the little bench. 🙂
And there was a giant sand area that would have been for a pool (or so I was told) and then a quaint shed in the back with a loft area and window up top.
I really liked that yard, too. But that is the tradeoff that naturally comes with getting a new house or a house in a new subdivision, anyway. We have great trees in our back yard, but they are too close to the alley to want to actually go out and sit under them! And the other is on the east, so the shade has moved before the day gets hot.
I’m planning to do a 5k in April and possibly a 10k later in the summer. Yay! I’m so out of shape. Hoping this will help me.
Let me know about the 5K there! Always need an excuse to motivate myself to run. 🙂
I totally want to do one “with” you. So, when you find a race, maybe I can find one for the same day and I can pretend we’re in it together 🙂
I’ll keep you ladies posted as to when some of the 5K’s come up. At this point, I’m way too out of shape to do one anytime terribly soon… 😉 This will be fun!