Could it finally be Spring?

According to those that have been living here in Chicago longer than I, it has been a difficult winter. I have nothing to compare it to other than the winters I've experienced elsewhere. Despite my lack of knowledge concerning winters here I have to say it's been one of the toughest I've ever survived. Yes, survived, there's no other way to describe it. Up until a couple of weeks ago it's been frigid since October so it's been a sigh of relief to see the sun up and the temperature climbing. Yesterday was amazing. It got up to 77 degrees and the sun was out thawing us all out. A bunch of girlfriends with kids called me up in the morning and invited me to go downtown with them and let our kids play in the giant fountains in Millennium Park. I was so excited and Nate wouldn't stop yelling for "Water, water!"

We got there at about 10 and let the kids loose. Nate has always felt the magnetic pull of the water so it was a dream for him to be pulled out of the stroller and have mommy say, "Go, play, get wet!"
You can see he didn't even bother to have his sandals taken off. I'd say that the area of the fountain was about 50 yards with two towers on either side that spewed water at unexpected moments. It's a giant playground for kids of all ages.
The water was a bit cold on our feet but because it was so warm outside it felt really good. This is Nate trying to absorb it all. I dare say this is the largest amount of water he's ever been able to play in. Drink it in, bud, drink it in.
Not really a picture of him playing or the water or the park or downtown, but it's not very often Nate will let me get a picture like this one, he's usually going a hundred miles a minute. I love it, though.
So the towers project faces of different Chicagoans on them and where the mouth is there is an opening for the water to shoot out. Unfortunately, you can't really see the face and I didn't get a very good picture (but just imagine). Of course that amount of noise and water attracted my son. The giggles and smiles where totally worth the trip.
Awww, isn't he cute? I took this picture of us and you can see by the look on his face that Nate was completely confused. I needed something with both of us in it and everyone was having so much fun with their kids that I didn't want to interrupt.

We had so much fun and I plan on taking him back and bringing Robert with us next time. It was the perfect way to ring in the new season. I'm so excited for Spring that I'm going to ignore the fact that the temperature dropped again and it's raining outside. I just don't see it. :)