Shared Joy

Over the past day and half Kristy and I enjoyed time with both of our kids and their families. We played, we joked, and we just made the best of our time together. What a joy!

Yesterday I took the four oldest grandkids to a park about 4 blocks away. As we walked to the park our almost always happy granddaughter, without any hesitation or prompting, began walking and clicking her heals as we headed to the park. She was completely relaxed, clearly happy, and a treat to spend time with. The three grandsons with me were great fun too as they carried on young boy conversation while they bounced a basketball down the sidewalk.

Part of the fun of our time together, at least for me, came when I noticed an uncommon bird in our daughter and family’s yard. Unlike most brown creeper observations, this one posed many times over an hour or more. Even the grandkids were treated to close views of the bird - all while continuing unstoppable chatter. The bird did not seemed to be bothered at all. By the way - I think I was the most/only real excited person to see this little bird.

Today we took all of the boys to the Saylorville spillway to see the power of water. Each of us was impressed. The gulls put on a good show too!

As Kristy and I drove home with the two oldest grandkids we made a side trip to an area where I thought we might find snow trilliums. Sure enough, we found them and I photographed some of the blossoms. Following are a few sample images of some of the first wildflowers of the year. (Snow trilliums are very low-growing plants - only a few inches off the ground.)