Sunny Day Outside Adventures

Today started off foggy. Our second grader said “I think the cloud was too heavy. That’s why it’s touching the ground.” I think he was right. Since we’ve moved here, it has rained at least every third day. While we were waiting for the sun to come out, we played “Beauty shop”. My preschooler and Kindergartener put all our hair accessories into my hair. It was a fantastic day at the salon.

After a while, the fog burned off, and most of the ground had dried off enough to go out. So, we headed outside for some adventures in the sun. When the sun shines we make use of the time. First, we started by gathering some large sticks. They are ostensibly for a bird feeder we’re going to make – when it rains again, or when we need to be quiet. The bird feeder promises to be a fun project, so I’m going to wait until all the kids are available to build it. In the meantime, the sticks were put to some interesting uses.

They were first used to hit the trees and the other sticks with. My Kindergartener said “Hey, let’s whack the sticks together.” I acquiesced because I was right there supervising the children. The whack fest lasted for a few minutes then the children wanted to play in our clean up bucket.

We have a big outside project that needs to be in place before it freezes here. We’re leveling off the back yard and putting in grass. The sprinklers are already in place, but all the rain we’ve had has packed down the topsoil. We get our shoes, and sometimes clothes really muddy while we’re working. So, we have a five gallon bucket on our deck that we can wash some of the mud off in before we go inside.Well, my two creative children turned the bucket into another outside adventure: mud making. They pretended they were making potions. The ingredients were: water, mud, and rocks – with the occasional muddy shoe thrown in for good measure. While they were thus engaged, I took the opportunity to work on the backyard grass project.

After about an hour, the magic of the potions wore off, and a new outside adventure began – racing around the backyard. Again, another game was invented where my children were in the land of prince and princesses. And the muddier they became the better prince or princess they were. I love seeing my kids get dirty playing outside. I love watching how they invent games to play with each other and the environment they are in.

Our outside adventures ended with a wash down in our kiddy pool. I had the children stand or sit in the pool while I hosed some of the mud off. The day was warm enough, and I was quick about it. It’s better for the dirt to end up outside then in the bathtub or washing machine drum. The children then left all their clothes on the front porch and were ushered up the stairs to a bath. Their clothes are drying, and the bathtub’s been cleaned out. All in all, a great morning in the sun.