so long winter

the last day of winter.  did i tell you?  spring begins march 1st here.  mother nature doesn't seem totally unfamiliar with this non-equinox based method (though i hear it is supposed to snow next week).  it's cold but not too cold.  okay, it felt really cold to me today, but that's only because i've become incapable of imagining what anything outside a range of 37.4-71.6 degrees fahrenheit feels like anymore.  (not unlike the way in which midwesterners reach anything over 20 and think, "spring!")

and despite the cool temps, it was not inconceivable for an ice cream chain here to offer two free scoops of ice cream on this last day of winter to start readying people for their cold treat of choice as the weather starts its months long inch toward that balmy 71 degree mark.  and it wasn't inconceivable for us to bus into town to stand in line outside for 20 minutes so the boys could get their two free scoops.


first though, william's robot...

and henry's plane...

in the line, nearly there...

chocolate and mint chocolate chip for henry and cherry and mint chocolate chip for william...

nothing quite like eating an ice cream cone with your mittens and snowsuit on...

they'd planned to go to the fjord after ice cream (i was going to go home to do grocery shopping and dinner prep) but they were shivering from the ice cream and the long wait and so enthusiasm for the fjord quickly vanished and we all took the bus back to our part of town.  i'd asked henry on friday what he wanted to eat for dinner this weekend and his answer was junk food.  i asked him what kind of junk food and he said he wanted pizza and chips and french fries.  so i told him to choose one of those for saturday-- he chose pizza-- and one for sunday-- he chose fries.  so i made pizza dough on friday afternoon and by this morning it was overflowing in the refrigerator.  no matter.  cheese for henry, ham and pineapple for william, veggie for me, and veggie plus ham for greg.  (and everyone, whether they knew it or not, got stuck with finely minced broccoli in their tomato sauce.)  tomorrow-- bean burgers, and potatoes strategically cut to resemble the common french fry.