The Dirt Pile

back row: Theresa, Alice, Michael, Kalina
front row: Audra teaching Betty to play in the dirt

Today I was reminded of being at the beach on a summer day, 1/4 of a mile of beach and yet everyone swimming in the water or sitting on the beach within reach of each other .

Looking at the raised garden bed, all five of the cousins seemed to be able to find a spot in the same bed and within reach of each other.  A whole yard to play in, and everyone in the same spot.

There is a designated dirt pile at this home, but the garden is full of rich loam that was ready to be turned.  So that is where they were.

... sometimes tables need sweeping ...

Miranda had purchased new tools and together the five of them dug with shovels and small spades, raking, smashing the dirt balls and pulling out the quack grass.

There can't help but be dirt that flies in the wrong direction with so many willing hands.

But just so as it stayed within the frame, that seemed to be all that mattered to the care givers.

 ...Wyona joins the fun ...

There were lots of drinks on the table and chicken strips and fries.

 When the work seemed too onerous, someone would come and refresh themselves with food and then back to digging they went.

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"This time I caught a big one, Grandma!"

The biggest prize was finding a small worm, which they showed to Wyona.

We sang the song for them, "Nobody likes me, everybody hates me / think I'll go eat worms... 

At that point Wyona pretended to eat the worm, so there were some shocked and others just in disbelief about what they imagined they had seen.

Alice's lesson on shaking the dirt out of the quack grass ...

The second garden bed got no action.

There are some raspberry bushes in it, and when someone would migrate to that bed, back they would come to the place where the earth was soft and the brambles, non-existant.

Some of the dried chive flowers were taken from that second bed and brought back to the first and planted.

Our first hope that Spring will bring blooms to everything that is stuck in the ground.

 Arta

Michael's Backyard

... note the size of the bubble, lower right hand corner ...

"Take all you want!" 
... Kalina passing out the marshmallow ...

We invited ourselves back to Michael's backyard since there is room to run and lots of play equipment.

I wonder if the best toy of all isn't the bubble machine.

Richard got it filled.

Alice said she had a good idea and out of the house she came with all of the spoons her parents own, passing them out to everyone so that the game could be, catch the bubbles on a spoon as they land.

I could line them up, but not keep the sun out of their eyes.

I was thinking how important it is to have back-up bubbles, but they need to be bought by the litre.

Alice has two yard long bubble tubes, but when she takes out the plastic holder that carries the bubbles in one hand, she tips the other hand with the bubble holder tube and all of the bubbles end up on the sidewalk or the grass.

 ...a one bubble experiment and then the tube dropped to the ground ...

The biggest hit is a battery operated machine that throws the bubbles in the air. That machine can keep five children running around the yard, catching bubbles on a spoon.

"I just about caught it!"

I didn't know the day would come when I would see five little second cousins running around the yard. Pretty cute!

The day ended when the sun went down and we all had to put our jackets on and run around the yard, playing What Time Is It, Mr. Wolf, and Tag.

The first game is quite frightening to 2 year olds, so the three of them had to have grandmothers hold their hands as they marched along shouting out, "What time is it Mr. Wolf".  It was a good thing that the third grandmother, Joan Turnbull, had arrived by then, so it was one two-year old per grandmother.

The good thing about tag is that the quickest they can run is about the quickest the grandmothers can run, so in that respect, the players of the games were evenly matched.

And we play by a very loose set of rules:  run and scream.

 Arta

A Play Date at the Golden Arches

... nothing like a short drive to put a person to sleep ...

Wyona was taking Audra, Theresa and Kalina to a play date, initiated by Theresa who asked her grandmother if they could do that again.

She was the first one in the car and sound asleep before Wyona had driven a couple of blocks to pick up the other kids.

Even with the best of maps, we got lost on the way to Bowness Park, though it is possible to wonder how that could happen.  That was the first part of our day going south.

We got to MacDonalds, and the kids into the play area, only to see a sign:  "Cleaning from 4:15 pm to 6:15 pm.  Sorry for the inconvenience."

No one was sorrier than we.

They played in the tunnels and slides for 9 minutes and then we ate and left.

First we were lost.  Then we had chosen the wrong MacDonalds if we were going to sit and watch the kids play.

Who would have thought to phone ahead to MacDonalds to find out their cleaning schedule.

You have been warned.

And then the third part of an event going south?  Wyona left her Ipad at MacDonalds.  To put this in perspective, at least it wasn't one of the kids we left.

Arta