When the sun comes out, so do the people of the Pacific Northwest.
So on one of those shiny days, the kids and I headed out for a nature walk, led by the friendly folk at the parks 'n' rec. Each child was given a cute ladybug backpack, filled with all kinds of tools for exploring the wonders of creation. Or, in our case, making bug eyes at each other.
Zig finally got around to using his magnifying glass to check out a leaf:
And the boys matched the colors on their "necklaces" (very manly ones, of course) to the colors they saw in nature. The green piece got a lot of use.
Oh! But then! Our leader said that the kids were going to play "Poohsticks," and I thought Campers was going to simply blow a gasket from the excitement. Course, he was doing a fine job of hiding his happiness about his knowledge of "Poohsticks."
Here he is, watching for his stick to appear:
And here are the three troops, dressed in matching orange shirts for the sake of their mother's sanity:
When I showed up to sign us all in, I noticed that all the other moms had just one child listed. Mmm-hmmm. I was the Nutso that decided to take three small kids on a nature hike. With steep hills and rivers and slugs, oh my! And even though the Suz was free! And walking! I kept a tight hold on her most of the time. I think her arm grew a couple of inches that morning, from her valiantly trying to run away, and me holding her back.
Knowing that, you should be impressed that I took any pictures at all. Course, I had to pin the girl between my knees to use the camera, or to get tools out of the backpacks, or to put this silly mask on (and off and on and off) the Zig's face:
We were a circus routine, for sure.
And here are the three rings to that circus--Campers, Zig, and the Suz:
I don't know how much nature we enjoyed that day, but we sure blew off some steam as we wiggled and raced through the trail. Oh, and we also provided a whole slew of people a morning full of entertainment.
I do what I can.
So on one of those shiny days, the kids and I headed out for a nature walk, led by the friendly folk at the parks 'n' rec. Each child was given a cute ladybug backpack, filled with all kinds of tools for exploring the wonders of creation. Or, in our case, making bug eyes at each other.
Zig finally got around to using his magnifying glass to check out a leaf:
And the boys matched the colors on their "necklaces" (very manly ones, of course) to the colors they saw in nature. The green piece got a lot of use.
Oh! But then! Our leader said that the kids were going to play "Poohsticks," and I thought Campers was going to simply blow a gasket from the excitement. Course, he was doing a fine job of hiding his happiness about his knowledge of "Poohsticks."
Here he is, watching for his stick to appear:
And here are the three troops, dressed in matching orange shirts for the sake of their mother's sanity:
When I showed up to sign us all in, I noticed that all the other moms had just one child listed. Mmm-hmmm. I was the Nutso that decided to take three small kids on a nature hike. With steep hills and rivers and slugs, oh my! And even though the Suz was free! And walking! I kept a tight hold on her most of the time. I think her arm grew a couple of inches that morning, from her valiantly trying to run away, and me holding her back.
Knowing that, you should be impressed that I took any pictures at all. Course, I had to pin the girl between my knees to use the camera, or to get tools out of the backpacks, or to put this silly mask on (and off and on and off) the Zig's face:
We were a circus routine, for sure.
And here are the three rings to that circus--Campers, Zig, and the Suz:
I don't know how much nature we enjoyed that day, but we sure blew off some steam as we wiggled and raced through the trail. Oh, and we also provided a whole slew of people a morning full of entertainment.
I do what I can.
