Day 1: Monday

I decide to get the girls out of the house early to prevent the horrible fights that occur when we stay at home aimlessly for too long. Monday's are tough because we've got nothing to anchor our morning until I realize, duh, just plan to do something outside every Monday morning. I've heard there's a neat park in Arlington which will be a new place for the girls so I finagle them out the door with the enticement of *new park*. The idea of doing this blog is rambling about in my head as we drive, along with the doubts: i don't have time to do a blog! what if i can't get the girls outside into nature everyday? maybe i should do a blog based on coffee instead... is it too early for another cup?

Within ten minutes we are there, and it's not even 9:30 - nice one! The fog is just starting to burn off and it's still damp and dew-y. The park, however, is just so-so and it turns out the girls have been there before with a fellow mom who took them along with her same-aged daughter one afternoon a few months back so i could meet a work deadline. We pile out and quickly realize we'll be drying off the dew-covered slides with our skirted bottoms unless we use something else so we grab our handy-dandy tea towel and start wiping.

After only a few slidings, climbings, and bark collecting (it's way more fun to gather bark and slide it down the slide than it is to slide yourself), there is a "poo-poo coming" and i have no idea where the public restrooms are (or if they're decent) so i scurry back to the car with both girls, whip out the little ikea potty we keep in the trunk and slip a plastic bag over it so i can bundle up the you-know-what once it's been you-know-whated. It is a c-razy soft poop so i say a silent prayer that i keep my car stocked with plastic bags and we bundle it up and i hand it to my daughter to deposit in the trash can nearby while the other takes a pee. My astute and dutiful daughter sniffs one of the cans, declares it to be "stinky" which equates to "trash" and "not recyling" and promptly deposits the package into the recyling bin. I hesitate to right this wrong as i gaze down into the can, empty but for the poop in a bag, but then think of how potentially messy, not to mention smelly and yucky, it would be for some random recycler person so i reach down in and pick it up and deposit it into the proper trash can.

The aberrant poop works to distract the girls from the play structure and to look further afield. We spy some big-girl swings a little ways away near the tennis court. There is no one else at this park but us and two men playing tennis and it's kind of nice -- no waiting for turns or running interference with other kids. The girls swing and swing and honestly could probably swing for about 3 hours except i get so ding-dang bored pushing them and encouraging them to pump that after about 20 minutes i manage to extricate them and entice them to take a walk with me to see "what's over there?? let's go walk on that path and see where it goes..."

Past the swings a concrete path meanders past manicured lawns and young trees. The girls keep wanting to go off the path, down to the right,  down the side of an incredibly steep hill pokey with weeds and i keep telling them no. And then i think about my idea to get them out into nature everyday and isn't what they are asking to do what i want to do also?

We come to another little path leading down through the weeds but this one goes to a leveled-off field surrounded by large pine trees (soon i'll learn the names of the trees) so we stumble down there and it's... peaceful and wonderful.

We collect pine cones, a good start on kindling for our fireplace in the winter, and addie finds an interesting feathery stalk that will make a great kid's broom.

Josie starts using her skirt to collect pine cones and they quickly fall into a rhythm of team work - addie is the runner and collector, josie is the holder and keeper - a pattern they often repeat. Josie sees me taking off my sweater to bundle up pine cones and she does the same with her coat so that she can hold more than her skirt could. I spy a lone blue jay and then addie spies "a whole family!" What i love about getting outside, truly outside, is this: each of us is engaged, interested, working on our own thing while near each other. The girls are so into their work I even have a chance to photograph something other than them. It's so nice to find this random piece of nature where the girls can roam a bit, where we are all working together but independently, where even I can get a little bit of breathing room. As my good friend paige and i used to say, "high-five to nature!"

Later that day, after lunch and quiet time where no one napped yet all were reasonably quiet, the girls decide to make their own worm houses, no wait, snail houses. Addie's contains an inordinate amount of leaves and grass and is nearly full of water. She also has a small water jug at the ready should the snail need more. Josie's is small and tidy and she decides that the food and the water can be combined in one dish (mostly because she likes the look of the one dish in there and doesn't want to change it).

Addie's snail house with pie safe to keep the snail safe

Josie's snail house with fresh flower petals for food

Then we go and forage for snails! Luckily I know just what kind of plants they live in and our neighborhood is full of these plants. And someday I will know the name of these plants. Even though it's warm and dry and the snails are not officially out, we find one "mama" snail and one "big sister" snail and bring them carefully home (with many admonishments to addie not to touch it's foot and to be gentle!)

      Addie's snail house is removed to the balcony    

Which doesn't stop her from moving it about!  

Josie's snail is very active!

I, of course, congratulate myself that the morning spent out in nature has created this beautiful, harmonious afternoon at home and that I am a genius mom. But as we shall see,  this is not necessarily so.