spring in sefton park
It was our first time in Sefton Park this year, as we met up with Zsofi there last week. The girls had a great time collecting fallen daffodils. Their haul was so large that a random passer-by came up to Zsofi and I to chide us for allowing the kids to pick that many. However, she was thoroughly embarrassed when we explained that the girls weren't picking the flowers, but merely getting the ones that were already broken off. Ha. Ares and Danny had a field day crawling around in the grass, undeterred by the pokey bits of chestnut husks amid the daffodils. Ares, who is still very much in his oral stage (to borrow Freud's psychosexual development stage lingo), curiously bit through daffodil stems and sticks. And then there was me, exasperatedly extricating bits of bark from his mouth and flinging the offending pieces far away into the grass.
After Zsofi left, we took a slow walk around the pond. Raspberry scaled slopes, rocks and tree trunks, and ducked into caves. Ares, who's wild about canines, madly signed "dog" every time he saw one (and believe me, there were plenty, as it was a beautiful afternoon) and gestured with an "ehh, ehh!" whenever a water bird came into sight (he does know the sign for "duck" but often signs "chicken" or "bird" when he sees a duck). We encountered a family of moorhens and their babies on the water and stopped for a long time to watch and marvel at how tiny the babies were. As expected, Raspberry declared that she wanted a moorhen chick for herself. She has a tendency to want certain animals after she sees them, you see. Because it was still Easter break, the playground was insanely busy, so much so that there was actually a lineup for the baby swings. Raspberry played for a bit, darting around all the other kids and repeatedly blending into the crowd. Ares wanted to get down to crawl around but I thought it wasn't the best idea with so many people about. I promised both of them that we would return once school was back in session and the parks would be quieter. Raspberry agreed and while Ares didn't say anything, I'm going to assume he shares our sentiment. Going to Sefton Park conjures up memories of all the long, lazy summer days we used to spend in Churchill Park and makes me miss our proximity to it. But at least we have this option, even though it's not close by. Anyhow, I'm looking forward to more days there now that it's spring, and I'm sure at least Raspberry is too.