We're goin' on a leaf hunt . . .

Our local library has story time every Wednesday morning. They actually host two sessions: One for ages 0-2 and one for ages 3-5. For Moms like me - who have a child in both age groups - this poses a bit of a dilemma. I definitely don't want to attend both story times, but I want to take each child to the session that most benefits their development. 

After some consideration and speaking with Ms. Tena (our wonderful story time director), we decided that I would just bring both of my children to the 3-5 year old session. Brenson is mature for his age in that he is very good at sitting and listening in that type of setting. Also, because we've had him in Music Class since he was 8 weeks old, as well as our Friday preschool class (Miss Shelly's) since before he was 1 year old, he is accustomed to structure, other littles, and craft activities. Since August, we have added Library story time to our schedule of weekly activities, and we all have enjoyed it fully!

This year, Veteran's Day fell on a Wednesday. That morning, the children and I got up and ready and left the house in plenty of time to make it to story time and even have a few minutes to browse for new library books to check out before it began. However, when we got to the Library it was closed for Veteran's Day! Well DUH, of course it was! We're in a small town with a small library, so I should have thought about that, but it just totally slipped my mind. 

After a quick turn-around through the Library parking lot, I was left with two disappointed kiddos and no plans. The weather was amazing that day, so I decided that we would head to our community park and have a little nature scavenger hunt! The kids loved the idea, so off we went. 

I had pinned a fun little chart on Pinterest that gave a picture list of things to hunt for and color in when found. I printed one out for Brianna (Bren is much to busy for that mess), and she was thrilled. 

Brenson loves to haul around a bucket and fill it with random things. I let him have at it, and he was one happy boy!

Brianna generally takes her work pretty seriously, but this day she just wanted to scribble on the pictures quickly and get on with her hunt. Ain't nobody got time for colorin'! Ha!

I, of course, wanted to take a few fall photos of my sweeties.

This was just after peak foliage time, but the scenery was still beautiful.

I think we were hunting for acorns in this photo . . . and having a surprisingly difficult time finding any. We did find a bucket-full of pecans, though, so I cracked one open and let the children sample it. Brianna loved it (like her Daddy), but Bren spit his out (like Momma . . . I'm not a fan of pecans).

After we finished up the scavenger hunt, the children just wanted to run and run and run. That was fine by me! They love to carry sticks around with them, too. Sometimes, children are A LOT like puppies :-).

Do you see the giant stick Brianna is holding? Crazy girl!

Cutie :-).

Again with a HUGE stick . . . this was actually like a full tree limb. I had to call stops on this as I could just see her whacking me or Brenson in the face with that thing.

I believe this is yet another big stick? Complete with leaves :-).

Not too long after I took this photo, Brianna suddenly had to use the bathroom. Which was fine, I mean we had been out there for several hours. The only problem was that our city is updating/remodeling several parts of this park and there are no bathrooms available right now. This park sits just downhill from the local University where I was employed before I had my babies, so I decided to load them up and head to campus for a bathroom break. 

This University has a beautiful campus, complete with ponds and big, beautiful trees, and even a nature reserve. So, while we were there, it just made sense to continue our exploring on campus :-). I took the kids down to one of the ponds and we watched the geese swim, threw rocks in the water, and collected colorful leaves. We don't live far from campus, but we don't really ever visit either. We all had a great time being there!

{sitting on the bank of the pond}

We play outside often, but typically it's just at home in our own yard. This was a great way to change things up a bit, especially adding a fun little hunt along with our play. It is truly the ordinary things that often make extraordinary days!