Mud

Warning: This post is picture heavy.  I couldn’t help myself.  I will tell you, though, that I took more than 300 photos today so just think of all the culling I did just to get it down to this many.  You’re welcome!

Saturday we decided to take the kids to a local park.  OK, maybe not entirely local but when you live in the borderline tullies it’s surprising what you consider local.  This park is so very cool, it’s up a mountain a bit and has three play sets (which the kids love) and hiking trails (which we’ve yet to explore – baby and all, ya know?) and a wading pool (it’s never been warm enough when we’ve been) and it’s beautiful.  *sigh* Oh the trees are starting to turn here and are they beautiful!

The kids only care about the play equipment.  Elias went right to work crawling back and forth on the bridge between the steps and the slide.

This would be forth:

This would be back:

Meanwhile the rest of the loonies jumped on the wobbly bridge.

Gabe got busy with a stick writing many things in the sand most of which was dedicated to the new friend he made on the playground.  He fell madly in love with said friend.

Gabe’s new friend:

He was quite sad when I made him find a nice leafy tree on which to deposit his friend.  If I hadn’t had two previously discovered caterpillars already in our butterfly habitat at home I might have conceded.  Alas, there was no room at the inn.

Elias gave himself the charge of filling the slide with sand.

Oh those baby blues!

Zion busied herself with this and that.  Here she said she was trying to water the branch so it would come back to life.  Oh children, why do you make me have to explain such difficult things? 

I had the foresight, for once, to have the kids bring a ball.  Gideon got to play a bit of soccer.  After he had been puddle jumping, clearly.

Zion and Gideon spent a moment in silence for the closed wading pool.  Dear poor, sad, wading pool, my children would have happily splashed in you regardless of the temperature.  Perhaps next summer when the sign is removed (and so are the dead leaves and other yuck). 

Before leaving we walk to the lookout.  I shot this picture and then spent the next while taking macro shots of flowers just outside the view point.  One of these days we’ll actually go down the path to see where it goes.

I love the windy twisty road that lies on the other side of the lookout.  Nice curves.

Gideon looks hopefully for any puddles he may have missed while we meander back to the van.

Then we’re all hungry so we hit up this new lunch spot nearby.  It’s a smoothie joint that serves paninis and wraps.  The wasabi chicken wrap did wonders on my sinuses.  WhooWee!  We got Gabe, Zion and Gideon smoothies.  I made the mistake of letting Elias try Gideon’s dairy-free strawberry smoothie.  Oops.  He wanted to drink the whole thing.

This is what happens when you take away the nums.

Am I a meaner mommy for making him cry or for taking his picture while he cried?  Oh well, nothing to be done about it now.  Poor 4th baby.  No sympathy. 

And then we go home for nap.  Mine!