Mama Pea Pod: April 2011

{Our Week Outdoors: April 22-28}

A photographic story of our outdoor play this week....

(Not as exotic as last week's outdoor adventures in beautiful Slovenia, but good, homegrown fun nonetheless!)

Playing with friends at our annual Easter Egg Hunt...a little rain didn't stop them from having fun chasing each other around the garden!

Adventures in the garden - Aside from the usual playing on the swings, making cakes in the sandbox, going down the slide, and games of hide-and-seek, Sweet Pea discovered the steps up to the parking lot of the next building, and in about 5 seconds she was up them. That baby loves to climb!

Taking a snack break from bike/car riding. Princess Pea got a new, big-girl bike for Easter, and Sweet Pea is learning to ride the Bobby car. So we spent time in the driveway trying out our new skills, which turned out to be mostly sitting stationary while eating muffins! I guess balancing is the first skill, right?

Lots of dandilion-blowing!

Yep, this baby loves to climb! And this broken bench is just so tempting!

Chalk drawing and water painting on the driveway - I love art activities that don't involve any clean up! And because they're so easy to put away, we can always find time to do some art.

Trying out the new climbing wall at our favourite restaurant - to our complete surprise, quick as a flash she was up and over the top!

Our Week Outdoors is a weekly feature here at Mama Pea Pod. Check out my other Play Outdoors posts!

Linked to We Play, It's Playtime, High Paw, The Play Academy, and Tot Tuesdays.

{Paint the Town Red!}

Just because you may find it harder to 'paint the town red' now that you have little ones in your life, doesn't mean you can't paint the driveway!

Sweet Pea and I took out a bucket of water and some paintbrushes today, and painted the bricks in the driveway.

Hmmm....maybe she's going to be left-handed like her mother?

Or maybe not.

You could also use watered-down waterbased paints if you really want to paint things red - just hose it down afterwards (or wait for the rain to do it).

See more water painting here!

By the way, a quick mommy-tip for you: A couple of minutes before this, she slipped and cut her lip a little - I gave her one of the soothers (binkies/pacifiers/dummies) I keep in the freezer for her (many) cut lip owies. I just give it a quick rinse to avoid frostbite, then she pops it in. Much easier than trying to get her to let me put ice on it!

Linked to: The Play Academy, Nurturestore's Carnival of Water Play, and

{Our Week Outdoors: April 15-21}

No Wordless Wednesday this week, instead I'm catching up from Friday's missed 'Our Week Outdoors' post.

Wow! We had the most fabulous week outdoors this week! We took a family vacation to Slovenia - what a beautiful country! We stayed in the Lake Bled/Lake Bohinj area, two beautiful lakes nestled in a valley in the alps. We went there in December and in the winter it's just like a Christmas card scene. This trip, in the spring, was just as beautiful with all the blossoms on the trees, the tulips and daffodils blooming in the gardens of the farmhouses, cows grazing in the fields, and lush green on the mountains. Next trip we'll have to try it in the autumn!

There are a LOT of pictures coming up, so brace yourself!

Riding the tractor at the guesthouse where we stayed

Examining a snail shell found on a hike along a gorge

We found a bird's nest too, built right on the rocky side of the gorge - a swallow perhaps?

An evening stroll to the lake

Checking out a spider web shimmering in the sunlight

Sitting on the dock, enjoying the warm weather

Throwing rocks in the lake

Sweet Pea enjoyed the feel of the pebbles

Found the world's best stick - with a deep groove down the middle, perfect for rolling pebbles down

Stopping to smell the spring flowers

Taking in the view from atop the castle

Princess Pea made some friends - the boys who live at the guesthouse. How fabulous is this for a backyard to play in?!

Feeding the ducks

Stopping to look up at the trees on a hike up the mountain to a beautiful waterfall

Swans need fed too.They ate right out of our hands. Oh, and all that yellow stuff in the water? Pollen! Yup, my allergies were horrendous the whole time!

Um, can you tell that I'm absolutely SMITTEN with my new Hipstamatic app for my iPhone?? (Thanks to Anna for recommending it!)

And here are a few more that aren't 'hip':

Making a fairy house

I've realised that my girls don't have enough logs and dirt piles in their lives. Or dinosaurs.

Enjoying a nap on Mummy's back during a hike

Princess Pea did a great job hiking all the way up to the waterfall (even though she complained most of the way!)

Sweet Pea was fascinated by the ducks and swans

Watching the sun set over the mountains. (How cute is that little hand on Daddy's knee?!)

You don't have to take a family vacation to get outdoors with your kids, but it sure does make it extra enjoyable!

Have you checked out the links on the sidebar? They are full of more ideas of fun things to do with your kids!

{2nd Annual Easter Egg Hunt}

20 children and babies (aged 0-8) + 29 adults + about 160 chocolate eggs + 3 canisters of shaving foam + 24 squirts of paint + 1 rabbit cake + a sprinkling of rain = Fun times at the Pea household's 2nd Annual Easter Egg Hunt!

Photos by Kathy

It's BYOB: Bring Your Own Basket. I got these ones last year at Tchibo.

The spread - yum! Lots of tasty treats were contributed by guests, too - thanks, everyone!

Princess Pea's dyed eggs came in handy for decorating.

Plastic eggs filled with various kitchen cupboard staples provided amusement for the non-mobile babies.

And the hunt begins!

Sharing out the eggs (more or less) equally at the end.

Making marbled paper eggs - see here for instructions. (Forgot to take a picture of the finished ones as it was raining by then. Follow the link and you'll get the idea, though.)