Friday playday

The kids had no school on Friday, October 12th due to a teacher in-service. I managed an 8am cross country practice alone while Jeff attended his teacher in-service meetings (progress: it is way less stressful for me to solo-coach now that the season is almost over). It was quick and I was home in no time.

After a morning of fort building, arguments, chess games, playing with a neighbor-friend, and [too] much wildness at home, the kids and I needed an outing, but I was too tired to actually go anywhere. So we ventured forth into the wide world of our backyard.

I love being outside with my kids. No pressure, no stress, just good old fashioned playtime. Usually I watch and assist more than participate actively in the kids' play, but this time I did my share of tree climbing, stick scavenging, and mud squelching. There is something to be said to letting go of adult cares and climbing a tree. 

Since I was flying solo at cross country practice, I drove around the route to keep my eye on the runners, instead of running with them. These trees in front of the middle school gave me a thrill.

The dirt piles are somehow still tall, in spite of all the digging, jumping, sliding, and stomping that they have endured.

Stabbing an old PVC pipe as deep into the dirt as possible: they actually got it nearly three feet into the ground! Then they sprinkled dirt into the pipe, removed it like Excalibur, and dumped the dirt trapped inside into the creek. Watching kids explore and play is fascinating.

The scene: dirt piles to the left, willow tree to the right, tiny irrigation creek in the middle.

Testing the bridge they built over the summer and attempting to add onto it.

Rose's bridge addition was a tad roly-poly with a bunch of sticks and two bits of PVC pipe.

Climbing the wide wide willow. Rose loves climbing trees, and Amber follows in her footsteps.

Amber nearly got up into the tree on her own. Jay gave her the tiniest boost and she was up.

Jay bravely joined us in the tree briefly, but he has never liked any kind of heights (even though we were only 5 feet off the ground), so he got down quickly.

I climbed up higher in the tree and looked down on my cute kids.

Jay took a picture of the girls in the tree. Rose's little face is peeking out above Amber's head to the left.

Rose and I hung out in the tree together for the longest.

Seven and a half, in her full glory.

Spying on Amber and Jay, who returned to the dirt piles after climbing the tree.

Rose and I went on a scavenging mission to hunt for discarded pieces of wood. We actually found one further down the creek, and brought it back to improve the first segment of the kids' bridge. The bridge zigzags across the shallow creek (Rose is on the first part, Amber is on the second part).

Standing on the sturdy summer bridge and playing in the rushing water.

Jay lounged on the creek bank and made battlements out of dirt while we constructed the bridge.

Childhood is good. I'm glad I get to be a part of it.

After almost two hours, we walked back across the field to our house. Jeff had just gotten home from work and we gathered for our weekly family movie night.