Parks, Parks, Parks!

Any chance we get to go outside to play, we take it.  We have a plethora of parks that are 5-20 minutes away, and we take full advantage of them.  As soon as the weather started warming up we'd go to a park in the afternoon.  Now that Eli's done with school and the weather is sometimes nice enough, we go earlier in the day and take a packed lunch.  That fresh air is SO good for all of us, and both kids really love to be around and play with other children.

We've had a particularly wet spring.  I've caused Eli to worry on a few occasions when we were out at the park and a storm was brewing.  :)  Going out and about all over parks and places is getting much trickier for me in my large state, but I'm doing the best I can to make sure they get these chances for fun before the baby comes.
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Cool Creek Park.  This park has a small creek over a bridge near the playground.  The kids always want to play in it of course, and get pretty muddy when they do.

Found a worm :) 

Both of them studying the worm

West Park..  A very expansive park that includes docks over ponds where you can go and feed the ducks.

Eli's getting great at climbing!

Playing a game of checkers

Feeding the ducks!

Asa Bales Park.  This park has two different playgrounds, with a 15-20 minute walk between them.  It's pretty much always empty!

Eli climbing up the frisbee golf holder.

"Sword-fighting

Quaker Park.  We usually only go to this park during the summer because it has a splash pad.  It's generally empty when the splash pad isn't on yet.  Eli's always bummed when there aren't other kids to play with, but thankfully he and Clara are able to play pretty well together.

We went off on a little walk along the Monon, and the kids walked through a meadow.  Clara was trying so hard to keep up with her fast brother, but the meadow kept getting the better of her and she'd fall down.  I laughed every time because you could barely see her when she'd fall.  It made her laugh, too.  :)

Founders Park.  This is definitely a favorite park, but it's definitely trickier to get to with it being far away, and me not wanting to take them if it's too cold or wet, because it's a sand park.  We've been able to go twice this week and the kids LOVE it there.  There's always lots of other kids, and we bring lots of toys to play with and share.  Both kids are good at making friends and playing well with others.

 

Digging a hole together.

Filling up cups of water to put in their hole. 

I always pack lunches when we do park days.

We love this time of year!