Our Suburban Adventure

I wrote yesterday about suburban hiking and our goal to spend more time outdoors with the kids. Well, we did that today. We spent the morning at our local park, which we walked to from our house. The kids were curious when we handed them "hiking buckets" to pick up whatever interested them as we walked, as long as they didn't pick a living thing like a flower or leaf on a tree. And then, we turned away from neighbors and headed in a new direction.

But they loved the new park, complete with pond, ducks, and playset. Bud loved Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and friends in the pond, Sis's favorite "greenheads." They even quacked at them. They marvelled at the upside down images in the water but weren't quite convinced by Mama's explanation of reflections. We all liked the dragonflies and butterfly. Bud liked crossing the bridge, where he found the thing that interested them most: a plain ol' tabby cat. Well, this was a suburban adventure after all.

After our walkabout, we headed to the playset where Sis immediately found a stick she liked. What is it with kids and the desire, the absolute need, to find the perfect stick to play with? To Mama and I, her stick looked like a little handgun. But having no concept of guns, she thought it was a "t" at first, then decided it was a hammer, then a musical instrument, then later a shovel for digging. They played "Fireman Sam" on the tall slide, trying to rescue people from the drain nearby. Then took turns doing "silly slides."

And Mama and I did that quintessential mommy thing and sat on the park bench and watched them, perfectly happy with our first "hike." I think we'll be back.