Samuel the Explorer

Last week was an exceptional week here in Maryland. Sunny and warm! So we put aside housework, laundry, and spring cleaning for a week of exploring...Samuel style! Samuel has a very special way of exploring...he hits the ground running and mommy just follows behind and tries to catch him before he falls (this has a success rate of about 50%). Samuel loves being an outdoors man! After I insist on putting on a hat, long pants, boots and sunscreen, we are off to explore. Usually we climb the back steps first...down, then up, then down, then up, then down, then up. Halfway down we stop to look at a bug, or a leaf, or the sky, or a bird, or a...well, you get it. So after 15 trips up and down our steps, we make it to the bottom and play with a large rock and a spinning flower I got him at the Dollar Tree. After twenty minutes on the sidewalk, we've made it to our drive way!!! Now the real fun begins. We look at more rocks, play with any garden flags that might be out, and walk up and down the driveway looking at more sticks, grass, flowers, and bugs!! Of course, the best thing about the drive way are the mud puddles!!!!!!!!! We have moved past just standing in them...no, mud puddles are meant for splashing, kicking, running, and dropping stuff into them!!! Then we head over the hill to explore an old house that belonged to Eric's great-grandparents. Samuel loves going down there to see the old house. It has a long drive way full of sticks and bugs!!! And then we get there, and they have a big yard by a creek...and what little boy doesn't like a creek??? And to top it off, the creek has a bridge!!!!!!!!!! So we go over the bridge, and sit on the bridge, and stand on the bridge!

By this time, I'm exhausted...but that's just our warm up! Back up to our yard we go for a round of: hunting Easter eggs, sidewalk chalk, blowing bubbles, sliding down the slide, chasing the dog, and playing in the playhouses.

Two hours later, I've convinced Samuel that goldfish crackers and juice are waiting for him inside. After some protest (translation...a temper tantrum) and promise that after we rest, we'll go outside again, Samuel comes in the house and agrees to let me take his shoes off and wash his hands and face. Snack and nap...and then we do it all again!!! Maybe this time though, we'll see what happens when you throw the sidewalk chalk into the mud....hmm, the explorations of a little boy :0)