Summertime

Maybe the best part of summer is the fun and casual aspect of spending more time outdoors.  When the weather's nice (which has been tricky with such a rainy summer), we spend our mornings at the park and take a walk in the afternoon.  This makes things so much easier on ME, as little planning and just a bit of prep work are all that's required!  And less time inside means less messes!  Win-win!

We are spoiled living where we do, with TONS of awesome parks to choose from.

--Exploring Simon Moon Park for the first time:

--Digging in the sand at Founders Park:

Eli joined in with a group of big kids to help dig out a big hole.

--Splashin' at Quaker Park:

This trip the kids spent more time in the mud than the water...

"Look, Mom!  Mud!"

Eli kept filling his mouth up with water from the drinking fountain, then running and squirting it out.  Boys.

Eli makes friends wherever he goes!  He and this boy sat together for a long time.  :)

--Walking to Freedom Trail Park (10 min walk from our house):

--Asa Bales Park:

Where Eli's shoes end up at parks.  He loves to climb up the slides!

--West Park:  This park is farther for us so we don't go very often.  We always feed the ducks/fish first, then played in the water.  Eli wouldn't wear his swimsuit, but he sped through the water going back and forth and got soaked.  He had SUCH a great time!  He loved getting squirted by a kid with a water gun.

 

On our afternoon walks around our neighborhood, we often stop at a spot near the entrance that has a ditch and several trees.  With all the rain the ditch is usually full of water.  A great place to splash and get extra muddy!

--Cool Creek Nature Center (on a rainy day):

Visiting Chumley the Turtle

I always laugh when I look at this photo.  Those kids and their fruit pouches.

And of course it's always nice that we can go play in our backyard!  (Which is always more fun if there are friends to play with.)  On this day Clara was apparently pretty thirsty, because all she wanted to do was try to get a lick of that water!  :)

"Aaahhh!  It got my eye!"

Washing hands

When we take our walks, Eli rides his Big Wheel and I've always put Clara in the stroller.  A couple times lately, though, Clara got to push her car around.  She loves it, but it definitely goes MUCH slower with her that way!  Only works when Dad's around, too.  :)

Hooray for Summer!