The Martin Family: Keeping Busy Outside

Today's weather certainly made up for the fierce thunderstorms and rain we had yesterday afternoon; it was perfect outside with blue skies, a slight breeze and low humidity. So, granted, we spent the majority of the day outdoors. The boys could stay outside all day long and even Abby loves it now that she can crawl. So much more to explore (and try to eat, much to Mom's chagrin)!

The activity of choice today was riding bikes and using the wagons early in the day and then the swings later in the afternoon. Here are some pictures I was able to get when someone actually was still enough for me to flash a photo. Enjoy!

Wagon rides were first on the agenda. We have two Town and Country's - one was Andrew's as a little boy and is now Ben's and one Nate got for his birthday this year from G and CC. The original wagon was repainted 4 years ago and got accidentally left outside in the rain last year so now it is in need of a new paint job. So, usually the boys fight over who gets to use the new wagon since the paint on the original one is "yucky." But, of course, today Nate decided to get the old one out and naturally Ben wanted that one, too. Come on, give me a break for once! I wonder what will happen when I give the original one a new coat of paint over the next few weeks? Maybe we will actually have two boys with two wagons that nobody will fight over. Probably not...

Ben pulled first to exert his true position of eldest sibling. Come hither! I will pull you, my two subordinates!

Yeah, so that was short-lived. Next thing I knew, Ben had wheedled his way into the wagon and actually had Nate thinking that the better job was to pull the wagon! I repeat, Ben exerts his true position of oldest (aka bossiest) sibling. And, yes, to all of you offended oldest siblings out there, I can say this since I am the oldest sibling. I'm not bossy in the least though. Must be the exception to the rule, right, Mike? :)

So, Nate pulls the 55lb. load that is Ben and Abigail...with a smile on his face, as always. Except in pictures. Seriously, he was perfectly happy the entire time he pulled even though he looks quite bored in this photo. He knew I had the camera so he put on his best poker face!!

I took pity on poor Natey and told him to hop in the wagon. So now I get to pull the 85lb. cargo around. This was after I weeded some much-neglected beds for an hour while Abby slept. Uh, yeah, I think I got my upper body workout for the day!

Once the notion that I was serious when I announced I couldn't pull them for another minute longer sunk in (and the begging and pleading ceased), Nate decided to walk around and fill up the wagon with sticks. I love child labor! This helped to clean up the branches that had fallen out of the trees during yesterday's storms.

But I guess Nate isn't quite as "green" as his shirt, as he proceeded to take one of his sticks and start scratching frantically at the bark on this huge tree. In the second photo, he is pretending to ignore me when I start telling him how he is hurting the tree and he needs to be nice to our green friends. Oh, how I wish I had one of those cantankerous, old, apple-throwing trees from The Wizard of Oz to get the point across :)

Hey you, gimme that stick! How'd you like it if I poked and prodded at you all day long, Blondie?! Hee hee.

Abby sat on the grass and watched all of the action. And then she remembered that she didn't need to sit on the blanket anymore and could go off crawling and exploring. She was not at all weirded out by grass, as both boys had been when they first crawled in it. And this didn't surprise me at all since she is probably content about 99% of the time. She just got around, picked up everything and had fun exploring.