High Park Splash Pad

These were taken one evening at the park last week, after daycare hours.

But guess who we did have as a special treat after regular daycare hours?! Yep, that's Maryam on the ground. What is she doing, you may ask? She has stolen the ball from Leila. Leila, of course, ran after her to get the ball back. But, (and this is Maryam's technique under similar circumstances with other children), Maryam realized she could not outrun Leila. Therefore, her best course of action is to lie on the ball and hope for the best. It's actually a pretty good strategy!

Leila and Maryam helped out a bit with baseball. Their catching skills were pretty good, but they clearly lack knowledge of the rules. Their idea of the game is to catch the ball and run away with it. Actually, they know darn well what they are doing, and the girls were definitely on the same team in that respect. The increase in Noah's agitation was directly related to Leila's glee. She loves attention from her brother, any way she can get it!

This was the state of Maryam after a day with us in her new princess dress (hand-me-down from Leila). She seems to like to roll in things. She rolled in the gravel at the baseball diamond. She rolled in the grass, and down the hill. She lay in the sand box and shimmied around a little. She crouched in a mud puddle, getting the skirt of her dress, and her legs mucky. She was a mess from head to toe. That's the way to do it, Maryam! It's a right of passage. Enjoy being a kid, kiddo!

And omg, this was her the next day. She chose the glasses, and she chose to don her hat backwards. I love that she has her own style!

Noah stayed home from school with us one of the days. He really did look pale and quite ill. About an hour later, he looked far better. But, of course, he didn't think going back to school was a good idea. ;)

Don't they look like a tough little gang? They are.

Blue Jay princess.

My handsome boy. :)

Yesterday we went to the splash pad at High Park. It was a great day for it, since it was to be a high of 31 degrees Celcius (which would feel like 35 - yikes!).

Marcellus quickly got into it.

Drew still shied away from it, for the most part. After playing at the playground area for a while though, I brought him back to the splash pad and gradually cooled him down by scooping some water onto his head, neck and arms. He was okay with that.

And Amadea, as usual, was right in there! She put her head directly into the water, as did I. Leila was even inspired to do a little of this. Like Drew, she doesn't realize how much better it will make her feel on such a hot day.