Spring in the Northland!

This is our side yard, and the hills in the distance (It was much more beautiful in real life!)

Spring has finally truly sprung here in Norther MN. This year it seemed it would never get here, and there were many times I wondered, "Why do I live here?" In April we had one of the biggest snows of the winter, and it continued to flurry into May. However, these pictures can't begin to do justice to the beauty of spring here. The greens are so astonishingly "green". The children are outside morning to night building forts (and fighting over them), biking, hiking our trails, shooting their BB guns, taking care of their parts of the garden (pulling weeds and watering the lettuce and spinach). They don't mind the black flies nearly as much and I do. For those unfamiliar with Northern MN, black flies are very similar to sand flies. Hattie did ask me the other day, "Why did God make black flies any way?" Thankfully, I was able to tell her they pollinate the blue berries. I guess that makes up for it somewhat. I guess. This year the daffodils are just blooming here. The apple tree finally began leafing out today. That's encouraging! June berry (also called Saskatoon Berries and Service Berries) bushes are loaded with blossoms.

Most exciting of all to my 3 and 5 yr. olds is the fact that the dandelions are blooming like mad. This year that was actually a slight relief for me too, since I'd been receiving bouquets of dried flowers from last fall for weeks already! Now I have cups, jars and vases of both last years left overs and dandelions all over the house. Trying to continue acting excited over these bouquets after the 5th or 6th one in a day is not as easy as one would think. However, I'm trying to enjoy it since one of these days it will all be over.

Marsh Marigolds