Saturday ended up being a rather nice day. It was warm enough that I went out with the kids and the dog, and we immediately came back upstairs to dump our coats because we were going to end up too hot with them on. Pearl was pulling on her leash again and I just don’t have time to deal with that when I also need to keep an eye on my kids, so we left her behind with George when we dropped our coats off, and the three of us went back outside, enjoying the great, fresh spring air for almost an hour and a half.

Somehow, they managed to find one of the last – and also the dirtiest – piles of snow left behind and they played on it for a few minutes. Breanna is pretty disappointed that it’s all disappearing. Me? I’ll live.

After walking a little further, they decided that a lack of snow wasn’t a big deal after they used their imagination and creativity to turn a fallen piece of a tree into a see-saw.

We definitely had a good time outside, and it was good for getting all that excess energy out.

Things got darker at 8:30 that night. In order to participate in Earth Hour 2009, we turned off all the lights, the computers, and the television and lit candles instead.

We had done it last year, but I added a chocolate fondue this time, and let me tell you – THAT went over very well. It took awhile for the chocolate to melt with just a tea light burning below it, but after about 20 minutes we had a nice pot half-full of melted goodness. I had sliced up some bananas, and we also had some fresh fruit salad that included strawberries, grapes, and melon slices so we speared all of those up and dipped them in. It was the first time the kids had ever had fondue, and they loved it.

I know that some people are ambivalent about Earth Hour and how much good it does, but I don’t think that the one hour of darkness is meant to fix anything. I don’t believe any of the participants thought they were making an actual tangible difference. However, what I feel is that Earth Hour is about educating and drawing attention. It gets people talking about climate change and helping the planet by reducing energy use. One hour won’t change anything, but what if people sat around in the dark for an hour and then realized that it’s not so bad? What if those people then decided to light candles every night or at least used one lone lamp instead of three or four? THAT is what makes the difference.

It’s also good for the kids. Hayley is terrible about leaving a stream of lights blazing in her path. She’ll turn on her bedroom light and then walk back out with it still on, only to go into the bathroom and do the exact same thing. George is forever turning the hall light off and telling her it doesn’t need to be on during the day. Earth Hour was a good way to reinforce the concept of saving energy and not using what we don’t actually need.

That education can come at any time, of course. And it should be a lesson that is brought up regularly. But having a specific time when you know everyone in the world is able to participate makes it special. Besides, Earth DAY doesn’t do anything more to help the planet either, but I still like to do something for the occasion then too.

The kids went to bed quickly and easily and then George and I did power up the television and the Wii to play a few games together, but we kept the dark theme going. We turned on the tiny night light in the hall in case one of the kids woke up, but we kept the candles lit in the living room and only turned the kitchen light on when we needed to get something to drink or eat.

Small steps.

I’m glad Saturday was a good day because Sunday was damp and rainy so we didn’t go out at all. It was still raining this morning but it’s stopped for now. I’m trying not to let the rain get me down since I know it will help get rid of the last of the snow (sorry, Breanna), and it will get the grass to be green again instead of that post-winter yellow straw stuff we have now. As long as we don’t get too much rain in one fell swoop, it should be okay!