Being Outside

It is getting harder and harder to compete with the Spring sunshine. My kids are spending more and more time outside everyday.  It is getting very difficult to bring them inside to do any school work. They especially enjoy the days we head out to the park but are just as content to stay home and play in the yard or just go for a bike ride in the cul-de-sac. I think they just want to be outside getting plenty of sun.

I don't blame them. Why would you want to be stuck inside when the weather is so perfect. Why do math drills when you could be coasting down a hill on your bike or swinging on the monkey bars.

On our many rides and walks around the block the kids have been looking at all the spring flowers that are popping up everywhere. They are watching as the trees sprout their green leaves on branches that just the day before looked bare.

We had to make a trip to the dollar store to buy sidewalk chalk which is always one of my kids favorites. They have been busy drawing all over the driveway. There are a few racetracks as well as a very tall Indiana Jones mixed in with the Hopscotch and other markings.
For the last several days my kids have been excited as I have taught them what they call "old time games". I have shown them how to play hopscotch. Not just how to draw the hopscotch board on the sidewalk, but to really play it by throwing a pebble onto the numbers and skipping those numbers with the rock on it. We also brought out a jump rope and I turned it for them as they tried to jump in and get a few jumps. I have also taught them a few basketball hoop games like "pig" or "horse", and poison.

Molly of course can't be left out of the fun. She hears the laughter/ and often fighting coming from outside and feels she has to join her siblings. They left the door open one day and she quickly crawled to the door and then took a dive onto the doormat. She has a nice rug burn on her face after that fall. But we are trying to teach her how to turn around and go down the stairs backward. It is going to take some time. She loved the little car that I pulled out of the back. She was thrilled to be pushed around by the big kids.  I just had to remind them to not go too fast. These boys can't seem to do anything slowly, it always has to be at full speed.  Sophie is very good about watching Molly as she crawls around getting very chalky.  Molly is all grins while she is out playing with the kids.

So much for doing school. We are itching to be out in the sun. Sophie has already told me she can't wait until we get to go to the beach again. I guess they are ready for Summer to be here already too. 

Are you sure this is Winter?

I know... most of the United States is either freezing or getting flooded but in California we are having very Spring like weather. In fact I had to convince my kids that this was actually still winter. We are running around without jackets and enjoying the bright sunshine. Today at the park the boys enjoyed riding their scooters down the hill. They did it over and over racing to the bottom and then quickly running back up to the top to go down again.

There were a lot of kids at the park today. I guess we weren't the only ones taking advantage of the lovely weather.



I do hope we get more winter weather. We really need the rain but for now we are enjoying the sunshine.

Hike to Castle Rock

We went today on a hike with a few friends. I haven't taken the kids on a hike (other than around the block or to a nearby park) in awhile. So today we headed out early before it started to heat up again.
We drove up into the mountains about 20 minutes away from home and hiked to a waterfall first. Then we decided to head to a place called Castle Rock.
The kids loved castle rock. It was a large rock with lots of little caves and holes in it.
The kids had a great time climbing under, over, around and through the rocks.

It was the greatest place for kids to play. They could have stayed all day and explored.

They did make me promise to bring them back there again sometime soon. They want to make sure their Dad comes next time too.

Castle Rock was a hit!

Outdoor hour #16 - We didn't follow the assignment

This week our assignment was to plant Sunflowers. I know my kids would love to grow sunflowers but since we don't have any land to plant anything in and every seed we have planted in pots seems to end up dinner for a squirrel. One of the many that invade our space each day. I guess we could plant some and keep it inside for awhile... maybe we will see about doing that but this week we did a little study of a tree that has lately bloomed in our neighborhood. We have been seeing it pop up as we drive down the street. It is also often used in the shopping centers and we saw a whole bunch in the garden around the children's Museum we went to yesterday. So we took a few minutes to really look at this beautiful tree and I did a little research online and figured out what kind of tree it is.

Let me introduce you to the Jacaranda Tree

These lovely purple flowered trees are all in bloom at the moment and stand out while we drive around.
I didn't know anything about this tree last week. I just know I have always loved the purple when it shows up each year. I asked a friend of mine if she knew the name of the tree and she couldn't tell me but she said I think it starts with a "J".
At first I thought it was purple leaves or something but when you get up close you can see there are green fern like leaves on the tree along with the purple blossoms. We of course picked a few of the purple flowers so we could smell them. They do smell very nice.


Here is Sophie and Ian sitting under a few of these beautiful purple trees.

When getting a good look at the trees we noticed some of them had this dried leaf like things dangling from them.

We pulled one off to examine it and it wasn't like any leaf we had felt. It was hard like a nut or cone.
Each one looked like two leaves and we tried to open up one but couldn't do it. It was really hard and stiff. Nothing that was going to easily break open.

Here is Sophie showing me how far open she could get it open
We finally found a few on the ground that had been opened. Maybe an animal broke them open to eat what was inside. I don't know. But when looking on the ground around these trees and seeing all the flowers that had fallen off and all the seed pods on the ground I thought this wouldn't be a fun tree to have to clean up after.
When online looking up information on these trees I came across this picture. It shows the leaves, flowers, and the seeds. In the description on the page it called them papery, winged seeds that flutter and spin as they are carried by the wind.Evidently this tree flowers in the Summer and looses its leaves in the Winter so it is always sort of one season behind. I don't mind at all. It is nice to see so much color when everything is starting to heat up and dry up.

Park Day - MUD

Wednesday is the day we go to the park with friends. We rotate around to different parks in the area. My kids love it! Today's park was one of Sophie's favorites. This was the park Sophie always asks to go to.

I am always amazed at those kids who are always spotlessly clean after playing at the park. There is a boy in our group who will play in the sand and even the water but never get dirty. I don't know how he does it. When we go to the park my kids end up so dirty and wet that they often end up going home naked because I have to strip them before they get into the car.

Today was no different. After being at the park maybe 5 min Henry headed over to the sand area where the water faucet was stuck on so there was plenty of puddles in the sand. First thing he did was jump into the center of largest one, shoes, socks and all. He obviously didn't get wet enough because he started doing belly flops into the puddles. I just watched him and thought of all the sand that would be in my car and down my shower drain, of all the laundry I would be doing later, and the screaming I would have to endure to wash all that sand out of his hair.

The other two didn't wait long before joining Henry is his jollity. They too found great pleasure in getting as dirty as they could. I used to fight this kind of play and try to keep them from the sand areas of any park. I gave up and just let them play now. I have spare towels in the car and extra water bottles in the car to wash a little. I get a lot less frustrated when I just let them have their fun. They really aren't doing anything wrong as long as they don't start throwing the wet sand.

It is good for kids to get down into the dirt and play, right? My kids sure do love it!