Bright and Early Adventures: Day 5 (8/24/12)

Today I woke up all the kids early (our four plus Will's friend Kaleb). We ate breakfast and got in the car for about an hour's drive to Longview. The whole way there, at least three of the kids were complaining that the ride was so long. I kept the music on to keep my mood light, but I was a bit frustrated before our fun even began. Once we got to the park, the kids all ran to the playground and told me the ride was definitely worth it!

After the kids played for awhile, we all worked together to fill a trash bag with litter we found around the park -- calling it our good deed for the day. The kids played until lunchtime, while I read and tried to keep up with them.

We headed to the Garden for the Blind for our picnic lunch. The garden was interesting -- it was next to a pond with a fountain (which had sound), there was a small babbling brook (sound), one section of the garden had fragrant roses and other strongly-scented plants (smell), another section had different textured plants like lamb's ear (touch), and another had herbs that I let the kids pinch to taste (taste). We talked about how many gardens are visually-stimulating, but that this was created for the other senses so that blind people could enjoy it. After lunch, the kids were exhausted... getting grumpier by the minute... and some had trouble keeping their eyes open. I changed our afternoon plans and skipped the museum. They needed naps -- all five of them! We got back in the car around 1:00pm, came home, and the kids played nicely until dinnertime.