Outdoor Ed: Day 5

They say all good things must come to an end, and let me tell you I was really banking on that because Outdoor Ed pretty much kicked my trash. The kids loved it though, and that--in addition to me getting all those "good mommy" credits--is really what counts, right? I mean, I DID get credit, right? I actually didn't hate it all the time and it was fun to watch my kids monkey around. And most days there were cookies involved. But still, I think all that fresh air and sunshine made me feel weird.

Here we are arriving at yet another park, Sweetwater Park. It is in Lone Tree and very close to my mom's house, which will factor in the story later. We brought white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies. They were delicious.

We got right to work, after eating all the cookies.

A rare Calvin-only picture. Calvin is a really sweet, good-natured boy. Which probably explains why there aren't a lot of Calvin pictures/posts. Sad but true. Are these awesome ears or what? They positively glow in the sunlight. And the best part? Calvin loves them. Really! He does.

The obligatory Monkey Up A Tree picture.

We were only at the park a little while when two of my children came and told me they needed to use the bathroom. You know, sitting down. So we all left the park and trotted off to my mom's house to use her bathroom. I was really thrilled at this development. And how fun for my mom, too.

Here is the "open space" that leads to my mom's back yard gate. You can't see Tommy, but he is right in front of Jos. Immediately after I took this picture, Tommy fell--he literally bit the dust. That livened things up a bit.

Both palms, a knee and a lip. Warning: these pictures become more graphic.

Blood dripping down his chin and his mouth is still full of "trail".

Please note Jon's water shoes. He couldn't find his regular shoes in the two hours we took to prepare to leave our house. Jon has way too much self awareness at this age, so he understood just how stupid these shoes looked. Poor Jon. Maybe now he will make shoe cognizance a bigger priority.

Peeking through Nana and Papa's fence.

My mom has a long-standing reputation in our family for trying to turn the conversation to "The Weather" whenever she can. She is especially fascinated by clouds. Colorado is a good place to live if you are into what is going on in the sky above you, but personally I think moving here has only added to her fixation. The problem? Now that I blog I can see that I'm doing it too. Does this disturb me? YES. But just look at this thunderhead that we saw yesterday! I'm guessing someplace in Aurora got hail yesterday. What do you think, Mom?

Oh, the humanity!

Monkey.

Jon found a playmate. What a surprise to us all.

This was a delightful discovery for me. We were about to leave the park at the end of our fun, and I noticed tucked behind some trees.......a potty. Oh well wasn't it enjoyable, kids, to walk all the way up the dusty trail to Nana's house, bleeding and sad, to use her potty instead?

This party is over.

Heading back to the great indoors. Goodbye, Outdoor Ed. I tolerated you while it lasted!