We had some really lovely weather at the beginning of the week so I took Matthew to the park. It was full of children and parents taking advantage of the sun. Matthew spent most of the timing watching other children, he just loves to stare! Since he's not really walking yet, he can't take full advantage of the playground, but I don't think it will be long before he can! He's still a bit hesitant to crawl on any unknown surface such as grass, etc. So he tends to hold onto one thing and just enjoy the view. I took him over to the 'water ball' which is a huge marble/stone ball rolling in water, where the children can stand in about half an inch of water and touch the ball which is circling in water as well. (Sorry if that's not a great description - see the picture below for a better idea!)

Matthew has suddenly developed a love for the outdoors and since the weather has been so warm we've been leaving the back door open. Matthew loves to speed crawl over to it and see if he can make it out before we catch him! I took a blanket out onto the grass and sat with him outside, and he will just sit and stare at the trees, the birds, the dogs playing, etc. He makes no move to crawl off the blanket, just likes to sit and chatter to himself.I feel a bit sorry for him that he hasn't really had a chance to experience outside much, after being a winter baby and then moving here into another winter. I've been told that summer is really great here, so we're looking forward to that!

After two days of lovely sunshine, the rain set in and it's been wet and drizzly ever since. So it's been an indoor week for us!

On friday I had my hair cut short. I found a great place which is very similar to a barber shop, which I've always said was such a quick and easy option!. It doesn't take any appointments, only walk-ins and they don't shampoo your hair, they just wet it with a spray bottle. So the whole thing is over in about half an hour and it doesn't cost nearly as much as a proper hair salon.

On Sunday we went over to Susie and Ben's place for an egg hunt and an Easter lunch. A whole bunch of plastic eggs were "hidden" around the house and a special room was set aside for the babies, with all the eggs on the floor or window sills so that they could reach them.
Matthew was very excited and went straight for the eggs! In fact we saw him "walk" more on Sunday during the egg hunt then we have all week! He's been taking one or 2 steps on his own at home, but during the egg hunt he was taking 3 or 4. It's amazing what some motivation can do! He thoroughly enjoyed 'finding' all his eggs, he just didn't understand the concept of putting them into his bag and not taking them out again!
We had a lovely lunch of deep fried turkey and salads and some lovely desserts.
You can see some pictures here.

On Saturday, our neighbors (to the right of us) had a large fir tree cut down. The tree fellers arrived early on Saturday morning and worked the whole day. Having it gone lets a lot more light into the front of the house, so that's nice. Some of our telephone cables were tangled up in the tree, so when it came down, the cables just needed to be tacked onto the side of the house. Mike (our neighbor) came round to do that. He came into the garden via the side gate, did what needed to be done and left. When we arrived back from our long afternoon at Susie and Ben's, I was greeted by Bean as I was taking Matthew out of the car. Knowing that the dogs were supposed to be locked in the back garden, I called out in a panic to Hilton. We rushed to check where Mojo was and found her waiting in the back yard. The side gate was ajar. Obviously it hadn't been shut properly and we hadn't checked it - silly us. It seems the dogs had been for a wonderful adventure around the neighborhood and then returned to wait for us. They were wet and cold but had mischievous looks on their faces! We'll never know how far they went, or how long they were out for. I guess we should just be thankful that they loved us enough to return!

The rain is poring down now, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the sun returns soon. After getting a glimpse of what summer is going to be like - I can't wait!