Play dates and beach

Oliver likes to eat.  This is true in the morning ...

... and the evening.

Also, on Friday Oliver turned 14 months old!

Madeline has been asking to wear four braids most days recently.

She did so yesterday before our first outing of the day: a visit to the neighborhood playground to see Lena and Angie.  It had been a long time, but Madeline and Lena played very nicely together.

Oliver was happy doing his own thing.

Yesterday afternoon, Kristin came over ...

... and we went to North Kingstown Town Beach.

Madeline fell asleep on the way there, and I stayed in the car with her while she finished her nap.

When she woke up, there was plenty to do.

There was a dramatic sky to appreciate.

There was a small playground for swinging ...

... and climbing.

(Thanks to Kristin for that picture.)

And of course there was plenty of fun to be had simply enjoying the beach too.

Oliver especially liked the sand.

Madeline liked playing with Kristin.

The afternoon just got more and more gorgeous.

All in all, it was a lovely day.

This morning ...

... we went to visit Holden and Petra.  There was both serious playing ...

... and costumed, leaping-and-jumping craziness.

The afternoon was a bit more low key.  While Oliver napped, Madeline and I watched My Neighbor Totoro.

And that was that.

Sick kids, busy long weekend

Last week was a busy week.  Though all seemed well ...

... our sleep dwindled over the course of the week, courtesy of Oliver.  Then Thursday, Oliver came down with a fever.  He had to stay home Friday.  He and Summer had fun together.

Also on Friday, Summer picked Madeline up from the nurse's office.  It wasn't a fever for Madeline -- instead, she'd knocked her face on some playground equipment.  Lucky for her, there was a box of Halloween books waiting for her to check out at home.

Friday night, Madeline developed a fever too, but it was short-lived.

Saturday morning, Madeline still sported a fat lip from her playground incident.

It was a gray and sometimes-rainy day, so we spent it all running errands or indoors at home.  We scoped out Halloween costumes, picked up some art supplies, visited two libraries (one a special detour to pick up The Little Mermaid for Madeline), and got our groceries for the week.

Oliver really enjoyed leftover pizza for lunch ...

... and both kids enjoyed using our new art supplies to make Halloween decorations.

Sunday was a much nicer day.  In the morning, we read a book about the ocean and we watched The Little Mermaid.  Then we went to East Beach to hunt for treasures.

There was dancing ...

... and some happy strolling ...

... and some water-leaping.

Then the treasure-hunting commenced.

Oliver found some nice rocks.

Then he took a break.

Madeline found a whole bucketful of treasures. She was happy.

No one found any mermaids.

We did, however, encounter something truly unexpected -- about a dozen horses on the beach.

Madeline got to pet one. The horse's owner said maybe the horse thought Madeline's hair looked like hay.

There were also two donkeys (not pictured).  The whole thing was very surreal for us -- and very entertaining for the kids.

On the way home from East Beach we stopped by Carpenter's Farm in Matunuck.

We took a hayride.

The hayride ended at a waterfront pumpkin patch.

Madeline picked out a big one.

It was pretty gorgeous.

This morning, the kids played with spoons.

Later, they played with Play-Doh.  I made Madeline an Ariel and an Ursula to play with.  In Madeline's play-universe, the two were good friends.

This afternoon, we went to Roger Williams Park.  Both kids rode the carousel, Madeline's treat.  Oliver did not approve.

But Madeline had a good time.

Oliver much preferred the playground ...

... where both kids had fun ...

... until it was time to go.