The Spring Itch

Nope, not poison ivy, chicken pox, or even mosquitoes. I'm talking about the GOOD spring itches. The itch for sunny 60 degree days, doing everything OUTSIDE, and picking up and going to somewhere newer and warmer where the primary language isn't English. Those kinds of itches. The past few weeks we've been able to test the waters of springlike weather and enjoy playtime in the sandbox and doing art projects on the patio. Pictures of one such project are posted below, which involved 5 tubes of glitter paint, an almost 2 year old, and 2 cats who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. But alas, the patches of weather that have been warm enough to enjoy such activities have been few and far between. We have grilled a couple of times but again, I wouldn't say we're in full-on grilling mode just yet.

But there is one itch that has it's date stamp for being "fully scratched" in the very near future. In just a few short weeks we'll be carefree and fancy-free wandering the streets of Barcelona, exploring the trails of the Pyrenees, strolling barefoot in the sands of the Mediterranean's Costa Blanca, and soaking up the history of 1st century Roman ruins in Tarragona that help makeup nearly 40 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Spain. Did I say a few short weeks? Make that several sure to be very looooong weeks the more I think about it. But, to add a little icing to the already sure to be delicious cake that is spring, by the time we get back from our trip NY will be drenched in blooming yellow forsythia and you can bet Ash will have learned the words "grill" and "BBQ".

This time last year we were a few weeks away from seeing Ash's face for the first time, and now this time this year we're a few weeks away from taking him across the ocean, again, and just a few more weeks after that we'll finally being the mom and dad he's known the longest. Don't get me wrong, we absolutely cherish the fact that he was able to spend 11 months in the loving arms of his birth mother and 2 months in the care of House of Hope, but May 3rd will mark the beginning of our 12th month together (and two days away from Ash's 2nd birthday!) and you can bet your bottom this forever family will be celebrating. I'd say a trip to Spain is a pretty good way to kick of a month long celebration - bring on the April showers and May flowers!