"It was a beautiful day..."

"...don't let it get away!"
Today we reached a balmy 47 degrees and the country girl in me needed to get out to enjoy it.
The only place around here that I can think of on a day like that is Holliday park, an awesome park with a few playgrounds and trails in the woods that lead down to the river. I seriously feel like I'm home when I'm there and thank God for such a place in this city!
We arrived at the park mostly intending to play on the playground parts and not venture into the woods for fear of mud and other grimy things. But there was still alot of snow around and that was what Amos wanted to play with! Thankfully, I tucked our miniature bulldozer and dumptruck into the bag and was thankful to have it on hand when Amos asked for the right tools for the job! He played in the snow like that for quite some time and then we made our way down the trails, through the woods.
Some of the spots were still quite icy so we were sure to be careful. And when we reached the bottom of the hill, our quest to the river was stopped short by lots of mud. And at first, I considered carrying Amos through it but then reconsidered when I imagined myself either stuck or trying to hike with copious amounts of mud on my boots. So we headed back up to find the other trails and play in more snow. We soon found lots of stairs and went down them. Again we were met with ice. As we were going back up, Amos started doing the stairs by himself. They were short enough for his little legs and at first, he would pull himself up by his arms to get up each step. He soon realized that he could use his leg muscles instead and it got a whole lot easier for him. I was so proud of him--it's a major accomplishment for him to walk up the stairs by himself. Our therapist would be so proud!!
Soon it was time to get back home. On our way to the car, we went under a giant pine tree. Amos loved being there, so we hung out for a few minutes. I felt like I was being reunited with the Pacific Northwest for a minute, while we smelled the wonderful pine smell and enjoyed the greenery. Amos soon found dirt and again requested the bulldozer and dump truck!
It was a great morning. Of course, I took many many pictures--poor Amos!!--as the lighting was so good and the setting was so right!