February 20

President's Day is always particularly exciting for me, because it's a bank holiday and bank holidays mean Chris is home. This spate of unseasonably warm weather meant that today could be an outdoor family adventure. Hooray!

Chris' one request for his day off was donuts. I found a unique little donut shop, and we stopped there first and let each kid pick out a donut. Then we drove to a nearby sculpture park. Chris and I went there once, many years ago, before babies, and I went there this fall for a photo session, but otherwise we had never explored the place. It turns out, we have been missing out on an awesome experience for the kids!

Daisy shared her donut (white donut, chocolate icing, Nutella drizzle) with Chris. It looks like Chris is eating a cheeseburger, but it's actually a beignet donut filled with chocolate pudding. And Lily's is a chocolate donut with rosewater glaze.

Caleb chose a King Cake cinnamon roll donut.

Hi, Lily!

These kids *never* get donuts, so this was a special treat.

Yum!

After a quick trip to the bathroom, we headed off to explore the trails. This park has sculptures placed along trails through the woods, as well as large open meadows with sculptures on display.

Babywearing selfie! Eli looks unhappy, but he was really just getting situated by burying his arms down in the carrier.

I love that our kids love exploring outdoors so much, because this is when Chris and I feel like ourselves again, and not just parents of small children. It is so encouraging and exciting to be entering a new season where we can do more things that we love with our kids! (Even if it means that we both have small children strapped to our backs. Whatever. If they're not in the picture, it counts as a date. Right?)

There were also lots of creeks to play in and clamber across. This place was really the perfect combination of hike, art exhibit, and nature play.

Chris brought Lily's carrier, and she hopped up and down quite a bit. It's nice to have an option for when her little legs get tired, and she's really happy on Daddy's back.

This sculpture was geared toward all of the dogs whose owners take them on walks in the park. My toddler also found it interesting!

My four little ducklings and Papa Duck!

We found a smaller creek, and Daisy worked at clearing out a blockage in the pipe that carried the creek under the path.

This was Caleb's favorite sculpture. It was a giant, C-shaped mound/ridge, with narrow stone steps leading up it, and a stone path at the top. It was quite steep and while the stairs only felt mildly risky going up, when it was time to head back down the felt downright treacherous. Caleb and Daisy scampered down without incident and Lily was safely on Chris' back, but Eli was another story. There was no way I trusted him to go down the 30 or so steps, and I was even nervous to walk down them with him in my arms because they were steep, shallow, and had no hand rail. So I wrapped that baby up on my back while I was up on top of the ridge, and that's how we got down. Thank goodness for babywearing!

After this sculpture, we got to the "traipsing through the woods" portion of our morning, when actual hiking occurred. It was the perfect level of difficulty for 2 children and 2 adults with toddlers on their backs. When we emerged from the woods, we found a clearing with several kid-friendly sculptures.

This is Whisker the War Werm, by artist Tom Huck. The kids loved him, especially because he was one of the few sculptures they were allowed to climb on.

We walked back to our car and grabbed lunch, then found a shady spot for a picnic. By this time it was 11:30, and the park was packed with picnickers and people playing. I suppose 70+ degrees on a holiday in February will bring out the entire metro area!

We picnicked near these awesome stone steps, and Caleb was kind enough to pose for a picture. The girls called these steps "The Wedding Steps" and took turns pretending to be bride and groom. The "groom" waited at the top while the "bride", carrying a bouquet of pine boughs, walked down the aisle. When she arrived at the top, the "groom" bowed to his "bride" and then hugged her. 

Over and over and over.

It was hilarious, especially the bowing.

Family picnic selfie!

I tried taking a few with my camera remote, but it would appear that the children weren't feeling cooperative.

After lunch, we headed home. As soon as she got out of the van, Lily raced to the basement to find a "wedding dress".

At first, she had a veil and underskirt to make the dress cover her feet. She quickly discarded those because they got in the way.

 Fun fact: when I was about 7 years old, my mom bought this dress for me. It was a first communion dress, found on clearance somewhere. She bought one for each of my sisters and me, and told us they were "wedding dresses". We loved them, and now my girls get to play with them. Sometimes my mom's penchant for keeping everything works out in my favor.

Daisy even let Lily borrow her white high heels, and Lily felt so fancy!

I mean, really. How cute is she?