Sand Trap

And what was Fenna doing when the others were in the swings? Not swinging, that's for sure! Ten seconds was enough to thoroughly convince us all -- and everyone within about fifteen feet -- that Miss Fenna Does NOT Enjoy Swings.

Ooookay. We'll try swings another day. Meantime, I have three children in swings, and one loose canon baby who will either ... wander to the river, where she will fall in and drown; to the play structure, where she will fall down and do herself an injury; or direct into the path of a swing and get herself a fine old black eye.

What's a caregiver to do? Well, you make use of the resources provide, in this case, a sizeable crater carved into the sand by a bunch of industrious 8-year-olds, I'd bet. Take note of said crater, and drop baby into the deepest part of it, butt-first. At the very least, it'll take her long enough to struggle out of it that you have time to give the other children a good shove or two (on the swings).

And if a caregiver is very lucky, the baby might decide it's fun to be butt-stuck in a hole of dirt.

Because, you know, dirt!!!

And if a baby's lucky, her big brother might come along to further amuse her.

Free at last!!

Swing-swung-swang

Windsor Park

Fenna follows Dries. I have the feeling this could be the start of a long-term pattern...

"I'm hanging! Look, I'm hanging!!"

She's being a fireman, not a pole-dancer. I hope.

Squirrel Game

Rules: 

1. Take a big bag of pine cones to the field.

2. Fling them all over.

3. Tell the children they are squirrels, and the pine cones are nuts. 

They are to run-quick-quick!! and pick up all the nuts for the winter.

This little nut -- er, squirrel -- has a whole armload of nuts!

This is a hungry squirrel.

Run, run, run! Squirrels LOVE to run!

Dirt Sounds

Dig, dig.

Drive, drive, rake.

Pop, pop.

Stir.

Hoot!

Busy, busy, busy-ness.

Painting at the Park, Fenna-style

What does Fenna do, while the other children paint at the picnic table? Well, she does stay strapped in the stroller, because otherwise I'd be chasing her around the park while the children did goodness knows what with the paint! She's too little to sit at the table, so, stroller it is.

But, stroller or not, she's part of the happenings. Here she explores a pine cone. Seems she likes it.

She likes it a really whole lot.

In fact, she looooooves it!!

She likes painting it, too.

Oh, wait. Maybe this paint brush is even more interesting!

And of course, anything you enjoy must be experienced with ALL your senses. (Nom!)

Painting at the Park!

There are so many nice things about doing crafts at the park. The mess is outside. We're outdoors. We don't have to worry about clean-up beyond taking all our stuff home. We're outdoors. They can go straight from crafting to climbing, and then back again. We're outdoors. (I love being outdoors in the fall, my favourite season!)

The children eagerly await the paint!

Yay, paint!

Paint on pine cones. Absorbing work.

He eventually decided that I was right, it would be easier if he kneeled. At this point, he was unconvinced...

The obligatory "messy hands" shot.

She takes her crafting very seriously, this girl.

In fact, when you get that much paint on your hands, you can paint the pine cones with your hands!

Just another park outing

Ada jumps on The Big Rock. Well, okay, she's standing. And then she will step off while holding my hands. She calls that 'jumping'. We don't disillusion her.

Dries launches himself. No necessity of fudging reality with this one. He JUMPS!!

Our favourite climbing tree. This week it has been a 'driving tree'. A bus, usually, occasionally a boat.

Fenna braves 'upright' on the uncertain surface of the sand. (Well, here she's on the tarmac, but she spent a fair amount of time wending her wobbly way across the sand.) I'd say she managed to walk a solid 50% of the time.

The Georgetown

A morning outing that had us running late resulted in having lunch out at a convenient eatery.

I'm not sure, because they did enjoy their lunch, but I think the placemats and the crayons may have been the best part of the meal for the girls!

No Caterpillars were Harmed in the Making of this Post

I spotted a wooly bear caterpillar on the sidewalk. We paused to observe. They were fascinated!

Fingerpaint!

I love that we can take advantage of the lovely fall weather to do our messy crafts outside, not just for the obvious clean-up advantages, but so we can soak up that lovely balmy air and sunshine!

You'd think that someone so obviously swamped by her enormous paint smock could go home without paint on her clothes, wouldn't you? HA! This girl is talented...

When fingers got boring, we tried other things in the paint. This long pine cone was Dries's favourite.

Apparently, Ada preferred using her face.

Whee! Lookit those hands!

Dries generously shared his pine cone with his baby sister.

She found it very tasty!

Leaves are also interesting to use in the fingerpaint.

Clean-up time! At least, initial clean-up. Removing enough of the paint from them that I was willing to bring them inside to the kitchen, where the soap and towels are!

I love fall. Just love it.