An Afternoon at the Creek

It feels like it has been weeks since we have had sunshine.  And it probably has.  So much of our winter has been consumed with grey skies and inches upon inches of rain.  I'm just thankful it isn't snow.  This afternoon we headed out on a walk.  Just the three of us and a foot long pencil.

Such a gorgeous day to be out and the temps weren't too chilly.

It was later in the day and with all the trees, it might as well have been sunset by the creek.  Chloe just loves to dig in the dirt.

And the boy just loves to throw rocks.

It became a game.

Throw the rock fast and see how quickly Momma could focus on the splash and snap a shot.

It tested my tracking and reflexes.

Especially using just my 50mm lens.

I was pretty pleased with myself.  Owen thought it was pretty cool to see the splashes on my LCD screen after each snap of the shutter.

I even got a few of the stones he threw, although there isn't much focus on the stone.

He wanted me to photograph more stones being thrown and the splashes.  

The arms got raised when I didn't follow the stones or splashes and continued to just photograph him.

Chloe played in the dirt the entire hour at the creek.

Perhaps she will be a master gardener when she grows up.

For as much rain as we have gotten over the last few weeks (and even the day before this walk), it was surprisingly NOT very muddy.

I love watching these two work together.  They can play so nicely and be such good friends.

And I loved the light coming in through the trees.

They were working together to build a hole that would hold a small tree upright.

But it was time to go before they could get it to stand up on its own.  Momma was getting cold.

The boy was having fun dancing around me.  

He thought he was funny, not standing still enough for me to really get a good shot of him.

He was moving fast.

I loved listening to his giggles.

Then we finally got up the hill and on the trail back home.  Owen high-tailed it out ahead of us.

More awesome sunlight coming in and covering us.  Chloe was being sweet and turned around to wait for me.

And give me one of her goofy grins.

And so, for an afternoon, we forgot this was the middle of winter.  We enjoyed each other's company and temps in the mid 60s.

Fun at the Creek

One of our karate family friends called us this afternoon asking if they could come over and go to the creek with us.  We didn't have anything going on and were happy the kids would get to play with friends.

Since the creek was down, I put my chair in the middle of it and kept cool.

The other family brought their dog, Duke.  He loves to play fetch with a tennis ball in the creek.

The older these two get, it seems the more fun they have together.

 I think this might have been Monkey in the Middle, but could have also been chase.  Whatever they were playing, it was filled with laughter.

Run Chloe, run!

 Glad that Owen spent more time playing in the creek this time.  The last few times we have come, the temps were lower and the water significantly cooler.  He had been content to sit on the sandbar and watch the rest of the kids play.

Chloe might have stolen someone's seat.

She was pretty pleased with her self and giggled non-stop as her friend Renee tried to dump her back out of the chair.

Even though there is about five years separating these two girls, they always have so much fun together.  Love that age differences are insignificant when it comes to friendships!

Afternoon at the Creek with Friends

We invited several families over from Tae Kwon Do to go to the creek and then grill out on the homefront.  The kids had a blast at the creek striking poses on one of the fallen trees.

They also had fun running and splashing in the water.

I love that the older these two get, the better friends they are becoming.  They genuinely enjoy spending time together and we hear more and more giggles from them when they play.

Our sweet boy.

Our little fish.

This boy doesn't feel the need to play non-stop and took a break to chill in one of the chairs.

Two of the kids had fun pouring water over the other and then shaking it out of their hair.

On the walk back to the house before we grilled dozens of burgers and hot dogs, we saw this little copperhead along the trail.  The kids were interested in him, but he made me nervous even though he stayed curled up tight.

This was such a fun weekend all around and ended with promises from friends to get together again soon to go to the creek again.