Outside Day

First full week of summer continues with an outside day. Shane and I accompanied Carrie to the Nibs' barn.

Shane, in his usual nature-loving, curious way, was fascinated by the ponds.

He ran down to look at the waterfall at the lowest pond.

I noticed a pipe blowing bubbles and a shed with electrical cords humming. I told Shane the water was probably pumped up from the lowest pond to keep it moving.

Shane seemed to tuned me out and then said, "DAD! Did you know I think they pump the water up from the lowest pond and then it falls through the top and the middle pond back to this pond?!?"

Which was basically what I just said.

He ran up to the middle pond to look down the drain and verify.

Then he ran up to check out the waterfall from the top pond to the middle pond.

"You know that's what I said, right?" I replied. Shane loves to talk.

I showed him the pipe in the top pond that was pushing out the water. He liked the bubbles.

Meanwhile, I heard Carrie calling for Nibs. I looked up and Nibs was walking over to her.

She brought Nibs in for some grooming and lead training.

I ended up holding the lead while Shane pooped (There was a bathroom).

Carrie pointed out Nibs' little fetlocks.

Carrie took Nibs out back for training while Shane and I started a project. Carrie bought a "Honey-Do" brand round pen. It was dirt cheap un-assembled.

Shane insisted it was not like Legos.

Carrie finished with Nibs and started to help. Carrie and I started an assembly line, cementing and fitting. We built 14 panels out of the 28 Carrie bought.

Shane handed over poles for a little bit. Then Carrie pacified him with her phone. There was no service for Pokemon, so he played Exploding Kittens.

Which stopped the complaining and kept him busy the rest of the time.

Carrie started to assemble and gather the panels to make a future, portable round pen.

We were out almost three hours with driving. Since I was already sweaty, I figured I'd do some yard work when we got home. The bamboo has continued to spread. Feelers are now showing up IN FRONT of the house.

Shane loves Carrie's blueberry bushes. He can't pass up an opportunity to poke at them.

Shane went inside. I chopped bamboo out back. Carrie collected eggs.

I would have been happy to stay inside the rest of the day, but Raheem knocked. First at 1 PM. Shane was hot and the TV was on, so he didn't want to go outside. Then he knocked again at 3 PM. This time, I'd told Shane to "entertain himself." Shane had just started to read on his own after moping around!

Well, we went outside. Shane's old enough I (mostly) trust him to play on his own, but don't trust him to be outside alone.

I made sure to be boring on the porch. Raheem kept trying to throw a ball to me and get me to play. I want the boys to play with each other. Shane sometimes runs off, but he was game today.

The boys climbed on the hill, passed and kicked the ball, and used the pump rocket.

It was hot enough I was sweating while sitting on the porch (and swatting at mosquitoes). Henry and Sam came out around 4 PM.

We played around until 5 PM and then I called it quits for the night. I had my sun quota for the day. Plus, I was tired. Shane was covered in mud so we went inside to settle down. He took his second shower for the day.

It was a good Wednesday for summer.