Category Archives: outdoors

Girl Time

We try to do things separately with the kids now and then so they each get their one on one time with us. Sometimes it’s planned, and sometimes someone gets cranky and misbehaves big time and rather than completely throwing all plans out the window, one of us just takes whichever munchkin is still ready to go. This happened a few weekends ago when Enzo was just having a rough day, so Phoebe and I went to a local orchard.

I took some photos with my cell phone of our little jaunt and it was a surprisingly nice day out. It got a little chilly as the sun started going down, but we made the most of no jackets for as long as possible. First we checked out some horses and then we wandered around and found a little play area.

It wasn’t overly busy, which was nice, and there was another little girl who was probably around 3 or 4 and was playing with Phoebe on the slides. She kind of wanted to boss Phoebe around a bit, but Phoebe would just kind of look at her like, “Who are you?” and turn around and do her own thing. I can’t tell you how many times she went down the slide… not the twisty one, the other one. She’s still on the fence about the twisty one.

The Luce Line Orchard was also the spot of a local tornado touchdown over the summer, and was a little close for comfort to our house. The Orchard is about 2 minutes away from our house and due to where it’s located, even closer than that. Granted, it wasn’t a big tornado, but it was still crazy to see the damage the winds caused and where it touched down.

Next time I’ll have to see about taking Enzo out with me. He’s usually a really good shopper and after he did so well at the movie theater, we’ll have to see about either his Dad or I taking him to see another one. Phoebe didn’t completely last for her first movie, she came close, but towards the end she got squirmy and wanted to run, so I had to take her out for a bit.

Now that the weather is changing we’ll have fewer outings, but I’m adamant that we go sledding this year! The kids are all about hot cocoa, and you can’t have sledding without hot cocoa. 😉

Oh, the Randomness of Kids…

Sometimes it amazes me how up and down and all over the place small children can be. Their moods can go from happy to sad to mad to silly and back again all in a matter of minutes. What I really love, though, are the random things that they’ll bring up – often out of nowhere.

So, when Enzo suddenly asked for a trumpet one day, I was surprised, but not entirely. Apparently he needed a trumpet like Quincy (from Little Einsteins), so I told him I’d see what I could find. Part of me figured he’d forget after a day or two, but when he asked the next day if I was going to the store to get him a trumpet, I realized he wasn’t going to let this one go. Hooray for Amazon and Prime shipping.

He was ridiculously excited when his trumpet showed up and after testing it out inside the house announced that he needed to take his trumpet outside, which is what we did. We really don’t need any excuses to get out on a nice day, but he very happily ran around tooting his horn. He gets very serious when playing it and while it’s still early to see what kind of interests will stick with him as he gets older, I wouldn’t be too surprised if music was one of them.

Both kids are very into music, which I love. Lately both kids have been enjoying dance parties in the kitchen and it’s a nice alternative to them asking for TV, so even if it means listening to lots of Disney tunes and The Gummy Bear song, I’ll take it. With luck their musical taste will change with time, right?

Day In the Life

I haven’t done one of these in a really long time and happened to pick a weekend where the weather was beautiful and we decided to spend most of the day out of the house, which also means most of these pictures are off the phone. I’ve learned lately that it’s just much easier to carry the phone rather than the bigger camera, especially with how active they both are.

Anyhoo, our Saturday started off early… so early. I think the kids were up before 6:00… it was dark and far too early. I suppose on the plus side it meant we had plenty of time to decide what our plans would be and time to get ready, though. I gave Enzo a few options and he picked the zoo, so we figured we’d start there and then see where the day led us.

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Flowers and Legos!

It was the perfect day to be outside and to use our discount tickets to the Arboretum… and apparently everyone else thought so as well. It also happened to be the last day of the Lego sculpture displays, so perhaps that combined with fabulous weather is what brought everyone out in droves. As always, we started things off with a picnic lunch and let the kids run around a bit before walking around to view the actual flowers and Lego creations. Sadly, we didn’t see them all, but the ones we did see were fun.

We brought the stroller, which at times was really helpful for two small kids, but can also be a cumbersome beast and makes me long for the days when the kids can manage an entire day walking on their own two feet. Alas, we seem to be nearing the end of baby wearing for good, which makes me sad. If she’s tired enough, Phoebe will give in and allow it, but for the most part she wants to be free to follow her brother, which often feels like following a drunk. She drags her feet, can’t walk a straight line and tends to be incoherent if she refused to take her nuk out. Many people are understanding and smile at her, but you also get the grumps with zero patience who give you the evil eye for allowing your child to have any fun.

Anyhoo, there were a lot of pretty flowers to look at, but the kids were mostly interested in anything with water. It took a lot of convincing to get them to leave the waterfall, and I can’t necessarily blame them since it was shady and somewhat secluded. We walked around a while longer, and I gave Enzo my phone so he could take pictures (I’ll post those later), but it soon became clear that our munchkins needed a nap… Phoebe especially.

To encourage some sleepiness we went on the 3 mile drive for the first time and were kicking ourselves for not taking it sooner. We had no idea there was so much more to see and do! When we move closer, we are without a doubt getting a membership because it’s such a great place to go on walks.

Camping: Part 2

Paul Bunyan Land is one of those kind of over-priced, small-town amusement parks that you go to because it’s random and there isn’t a whole lot else to do. It’s kind of cheesy in a fun way, really only has a handful of rides for kids (most of which aren’t running all the time), a petting zoo and some wacky dioramas. It also has This Old Village, which is kind of fun, but we didn’t have time for it with the kids. Right away Enzo saw a few rides that he wanted to go on, and a few more that he stared at for a while, but said, “Maybe next time when I’m bigger.”

Phoebe was fairly nervous and since they wouldn’t allow parents on the rides with small kids, we took a gamble putting her on a ride alone with Enzo after previous experiences. She held on for dear life, but I think she was okay because her big brother was next to her having a blast. They both loved the train (of course) and the boat was also a big hit, which sort of surprised me. I figured Phoebe would panic when the ride operator picked her up and plopped her in the boat rather than me, but she thoroughly enjoyed it.