Park Days....

Today was another lovely, cool day in the Southern California mountains. For the second day in a row, the boys all wanted to explore the park.

For a small town (population 1200), we have a terrific county park. My parents brought me and my siblings to this very park to ride our bikes and play in the creek while they challenged each other to a mean game of tennis on the smooth concrete courts. Next to the tennis court sits a basketball court, and next to it is a wide green lawn with a volleyball net and a soccer field. Across the asphalt is a brand-new playground area for kids, with an area set aside for toddlers in addition to a huge play area for older kids, surrounded by picnic benches and oak trees. Around the playgrounds runs concrete paths which are perfect for skateboarding, rollerblading, and bicycle riding. It's a simply gorgeous park, surrounded by purplish mountains, tawny fields, and old-growth trees.

Today the boys went looking for frogs and found a couple specimens, one of which hopped out of T's hands and onto his t-shirt. I sat under a tree in my favorite old beach chair, reading Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (for the first time, naughty me!) and peering over the top of the shabby library copy every time one of the boys called, "Look at me, Mom!" or "Watch this!" It was such a lovely day in such a lovely place, watching my kids run about, playing games and exploring the natural world.

I love living in a place where I spent so many happy hours of my childhood, and where I can watch my own kids doing the same.