Afternoon Shenanigans

I stopped work and picked up my boy a little early today. Instead of going straight home, he wanted to play at the school playground for a little while. It was a beautiful day, nearly 80 degrees, a little breezy, and the trees are maybe just past peaking in fall color. I doubt we'll see another day like today for several months, and I couldn't think of anywhere else we needed to be, so we indulged in the outdoors for an hour or so. My mom dropped off my girl a little later, and the kiddos ran around getting rid of some of that infinite energy they have.

I sat on the swings, watching them play and listening to the dry fall leaves rustling in the trees. My boy showed me how he builds "sand castles" - I now have an explanation for the state of his shirts at the end of the day. Why any school would include white as one of its uniform shirt colors for kindergartners is beyond me. My girl played on the swings and followed her older brother's lead in building "sand castles" in the dirt. Yay.

The afternoon reminded me of being back in school, when I think I was a little more in touch with the seasons and the sky at different times of the year. I miss that connection with the outdoors sometimes; as grown ups, we don't really get outside regularly, and I tend to forget how nice it can be to sit and watch the afternoon sky change colors.

All in all, a very enjoyable afternoon. At least until my boy came up to me and said, rather urgently, "Mom, we need to go home right now." I looked at him and asked why. "Because I have to poop!!"  Great. I start to look around for the girl when suddenly he says, "Oh, never mind."  Uh oh, I think. "I just had to toot. It was a false alarm!" False alarm indeed. Nothing like a five year old boy to bring you back to reality.