One of our best friends has a phrase I love…”free ranging”. She uses it to describe her ideal days when her children can be ‘free range’ and explore and develop and grow and learn in their own time and in their way; the days with no planned groups or activities, where they can do whatever they wish depending on the weather, their moods, their interest….head to a museum, picnic in the park, reading at the library..so today we joined her and her 3 children and another family for a day of free ranging..
We went to see cows.
Pictured : 3 cows..
Not pictured: the 25 other cows that were blocking the pavement and refused to move to let us pass.
Cow are big. They had horns. I was scared.
Once the cow obstacles had been passed (we waited for another cyclist to come from the opposite direction and scare the cows away), we went to the Happiest Place in the World; the funky fun house!
I brought the wrong lens, so all I got was this blurry picture..
We stayed playing for several hours, and had lunch there too. Once everyone was all played-out we packed up and headed outside into the beautiful sunshine for more free range playing at a local park!
We picked and gorged on almost-perfectly-ripe cherries, explored the secret ways behind the bushes, saw a grass snake, did some digging for shells, swinging on the swings and of course lots of sliding, now a firm favourite activity of yours Joseph.
But all to soon it was time to pack up, back in to the bike and off to our next activity; two hours of arts and crafts!
But the cycle ride proved too much for an all-played-out-tiredy Leo and when we got to our final destination he was all zonked out……..Zzzzzz
I am always amazed at the highly uncomfortable positions babies can fall asleep in!
Then Joseph you did some painting, some beading, some sewing, some building of marble-run…Leo, you did some scribbling and playing on the rocking horse (and charming everyone, as always! You are now officially known as “the cutest baby in the world”. Some of the girls refer to you as that! I think it is based on a slogan on one of your t-shirts you wore some weeks ago!)
Once again, time passed all too quickly and it was again time to pack our bags and head back home for dinner! (buckwheat….recipe from our free ranging friend, and a firm favourite for us now!)
A very full, but fun day of free ranging!
