Outside in the Springtime

Spring is in full force here.  The trees are leafy green, weeds and grass are growing like crazy and flowers are blooming everywhere.  We have been spending time outside in the nicer weather.  We bought a family pass for the zoo.  The girls have had fun watching the animals and hearing the lions roar and the seeing the monkeys play.  We walk often to the little playground in our neighborhood.  Slides and swings and a merry-go-round keep them busy and demanding the visits anytime they think of it, especially Tess.

We also spend more time in our backyard.  I keep them penned in the middle level of the yard with one of those six panel super yards so they don't fall over the ledge (its about a 3 foot drop).   And they are good about not trying to escape, except every once in awhile T will try to squeeze around one of the sides.  That girl has a little naughty streak.   To keep them busy, I have little brooms with dust pans for sweeping the patio and trowels for digging up the soil in pots. They have their own pots so they leave my little container garden of tomatoes, peppers and green onions alone.   They also have a collection of rocks and sticks they can play with.  I picked up a little slide for them at a consignment sale a few weeks ago.  They have a lot of fun with it and it is a great size for working on their balance and climbing skills.  They have taken tumbles off the top but landing on the grass, they recover pretty quickly.  They also have their little coupe to push each other around in.  A huge part of the enjoyment of the car is actually getting to clean all the rainwater/dirt/oak pollen off of it with a washcloth before they ride it.  Funny girls

 

 

As it really heats up for summer I plan to get them swimming in the kiddie pool and set up a water table for them.  The patio faces full south though.  It gets pretty blazing out there.  So we'll have to restrict our time out back even with help from a canopy.  Unfortunately, this evening our time outside was cut short because, as D learned to say, "Bug eat you."  Mosquitoes are back in the evenings and I am not sure where I put the bug spray last fall.  We really have to do something about our mosquito problem this year since I do want the girls to learn to love being outside.