Just say "Yes!"

The weather, as is usual these days, has been glorious.  I'm trying to get outside with the kids at *least* once a day.  The problem is, the second we get outside Cecilia makes a run for it and John Paul thinks we're going to the playground.  I can't get them to just play in front of our house!

But today I figured, sure, why don't I let *them* lead on a walk?

So I took both their hands (no stroller, no carrying either child, they're getting so big!) and we walked to the little playground down the hill from our house.

Oh, it was MUDDY.  This playground is not my favorite...  The equipment is a little too old for my littles, and the slides tend to have standing water on them at all times.  Cecilia, of course, made a mad dash for the slides and very tentatively put a finger in the water.

PLAYGROUND TIME RUINED, KIDS GETTING DIRTY!

Nope, I decided to say, "Yes!"

I told Cecilia she could splash in the puddle.  She got a HUGE grin on her face and spend the next 10 minutes splashing in the puddle, picking up wood chips to taste them or see if they floated in the water, and splashing some more.

She was WET.  John Paul decided to join in.  He was a lot more wary than she - immediately upon getting his pants wet he started pulling them down saying, "Pants off?  New pair of pants???"  I assured him that we were here to get messy and we'd change when we got home (this did not prevent this from occurring several more times.  He does NOT like to be dirty.).

Cecilia decided to take it one step further and climb up onto the slide, belly flopping down into the water.  Lovely :)  Then she fell in the mud several times, but "washed" her hands off in the mud puddle.

We walked home, soaking wet and muddy, and went straight upstairs for a bath.

Clothes can be washed (next time I won't wear a hand-wash only shirt...  But we were being spontaneous!).  Shoes can, too!  But this tired John Paul enough to take a LONG nap this afternoon (and those are rare these days!), so it looks like we'll be getting muddy as long as the bugs haven't started biting yet!