Water Play

Shortly after writing about our adventures at the wading pool, the kids decided they did not want to go back, at least for a little while. I guess they really can feel the full frostiness of the water! Well, I should clarify. Lucas was the one in five that did want to go. This doesn't surprise me, since he always waded the deepest, and stayed there for long periods!

Going with the wishes of the majority, we have been playing out back for the past couple of weeks. In the picture above you can see some of the kids are practicing rolling down the hill.

They love to play at the top of the hill, or in our pretend house. Due to the sprinklers being run in the early morning, there is usually gooey mud to be found in the "house". If muck is anywhere in the vicinity, they find it. They basically do everything but roll in it. Oh who am I kidding, they do that sometimes too!

I am still trying to restrain Aidas's strong urge to paint the walls. I can't say I blame him at all. It looks like so much fun for them. I really wish I could let them enjoy this, but our superintendent has been very nice about most of the mess that we create. I want to respect her request that we refrain from doing this. Aidas still sneaks some hand prints in now and then as you can see on the pillar in the picture above. And, in the other picture, he is following my advice to redirect the product of his creative processes onto the rock. It's not nearly as fun though.

Here is a little snippet of the scene in our pretend house. As usual, Noah is performing, and the other four are playing in the mud. 

It got extremely hot and humid last week, so we still needed water involved in our outdoor play. This is when I really wish I could just walk directly out to "my yard". How easy would that be? I'd just turn the hose or sprinkler on. Alas, we had to improvise, so I brought down two 4L jugs of water, and a basin with toys. 

The kids loved it, Maya and B. especially. But I knew that two jugs of water would not last long, and man, was it hot out! 

Enter Ray, our superintendent. He said those magical words, "I think we need to turn the sprinkler on!" I was excited for Noah, because he would get to enjoy something I so often enjoyed in my childhood. It's like we had our very own backyard for the day!

Noah and Lucas were all over it! It wasn't even freezing cold, so I was having just as much fun running through it as they were. What a fabulous relief from the heat!

 Maya and B. remained by the water basin. By this time they were exploring mixing dirt with water. And since the sprinkler was on, I was able to keep refilling the 4L water bottles to replenish the water in the basin. I had to do this often because they were using it to water flowers. They also enjoyed pouring the water into other containers and dumping it onto the grass and onto their legs.

Aidas, as usual, was on the move, and enjoying a little bit of everything. On this day, Noah demanded to wear his beloved Thomas rain boots. Actually, many people in our apartment building have seen Noah, on numerous occasions, wearing his Thomas rain boots and/or Cookie Monster rain coat on the sunniest of days. Pick your battles, right? And anyway, I must concede, the coat and rain boots are cooler than cool! 

Stay tuned for more summer fun!