Our walk to the park

The other morning we started the day off with a walk to our favorite nearby park. I certainly have come to love living in Cache Valley, and this beautiful walk was yet another reminder of why! 

Mason started out riding his big wheeler. When it got too bumpy and hard to pedal, I pulled him along. That was for the first 15 or so minutes. For the rest of the time I pulled an empty bike around behind the stroller while my helmet-wearing child ran around exploring. I didn't mind the extra weight except for when I had to charge through a bunch of sprinklers at top (Malinda) speed and got soaked. But actually, I didn't really mind it then too much either because the boys thought it was so funny.

This walk takes you right along a little river that is teaming with ducks and muskrats. It just has such a small-town country feel to it.

A family of five just like our family

My boys love dandyflowers (dandelions). My boys remind me of Ferdinand the bull

 Neighboring bee families

L: McCabe, enjoying a good book about trucks (Bob the Builder) while R: Mason enjoyed the real thing

I was asked if Char and McCabe were twins again right after I took this picture. They are starting to get that fairly often when they are sitting down or being held.

The nice (but strange) man who was renting this forklift invited the boys to climb up for a bit. They thought that was cool but obviously wasn't so sure about the man.

L: Char, hanging by the slides R: McCabe racing everywhere but where I wanted him to stay

Mason, showing off his cute little President Hinckley mouth. His upper lip tends to disappear when he is telling a good joke or especially pleased with something.

Once we got to the park, a huge school bus was pulling up full of (I'm guessing) nine-year-olds. I was impressed with how nice and well behaved they were, but even still it got a little too crowded on the climbing structure and we decided to scoot to the nearby sandpit/volleyball court. Mason said, "That stinks that we can't play there anymore but we can be optimistic like Joseph and have fun in the sand." I was surprised to hear him say that, especially since it has been a while since we did a lesson on Joseph (from the Old Testament with the coat of many colors) and how his good attitude helped him overcome the trials that he kept facing. I guess some of our efforts get through to our little men after all! Thank goodness, because if they can learn to choose to be happy then I know that their futures will be bright no matter what. But lets face it, Mason caught onto this long before our lesson on Joseph. 

Char, making a sand angel

The boys got a kick out of running and sliding in the sand

My little stinkbugs

L: Mason with the walnuts he found around the trees. R: Char with his beloved rope.