There has been no snow in Christchurch this year, so last weekend we drove up to Mt Hutt to give the kids a little snow exposure. Jeremiah was there to support his buddy in his bid to reach the top of the ski mountain in less than 30 minutes (climbing in skis, no lift ticket). He lost; took him 33 minutes, and now he owes his crony 100 bucks. At any rate, we went along because it was a fine warm day, and it doesn’t cost anything to slide around at the bottom of the ski slopes.

While Mt Hutt is still cloaked in winter snow, Trig Peak in Porter’s Pass (on the way up to Arthur’s Pass) felt more like late April. Air still a bit nippy, but only sweater weather. We’re exercising Milo’s legs–we haven’t figured out how to carry two kids and all our stuff on an overnight hike, so we need him to trump along on his own two stompers. Here he is, fueling up.  Most of the fuel was purple gummy candies and M&M’s, to be honest.  We went with friends whose two-year-old son also did a considerable amount of walking.

There was very little actual snow on the way up to Trig Peak, a day hike in Porter’s Pass, but the peaks you see from there are still covered in snow. We packed Naomi in her sleeping bag for the walk, so she stayed toasty warm.

There are those snow-capped peaks. Hot chocolate, anyone?  This little touch gives an element of luxury to our cold weather day hikes.

Nice Daddy/baby photo. That’s Elijah, our friends’ little boy, in the background.

The low clouds rolled in while we sat and ate lunch, making the walk down a bit on the chilly side. Nothing those special mouse mittens couldn’t tackle though!

Then here we are back in the lowlands of Christchurch, where spring has really sprung. Springs here are so cool and long and drawn out that the daffodils last for months. Even cherry blossoms are around for several weeks. For some unknown kiddom reason, Milo thought running down the daffodil slope and crashing face-first into the grass was a riot.

Naomi was so interested in the daffodil blooms that I couldn’t get her to look at me to take a face-on photo. There are quite of few of these wonderful plantings around; they’re quite a nice touch.

Bottle this moment–sibling co-operation! Milo’s feeding Naomi a grape.

It’s not easy to futz around with the camera with two busy children, and this picture isn’t in perfect focus. But I’m hoping to still communicate the allure of those hooded blossom centers basking in the sunshine. It may spit cold rain tomorrow, but today is lovely spring in Christchurch.