Mulch Messes

We played at a pretty neat park with a HUGE slide and a really cool rock to climb up (and take pictures on). The kids love to come here (since it is near Gram's house), but we haven't been in a while, for no apparent reason. We met my friend Jamie and her kiddos to let them all play together. It is so interesting to see the relationship dynamics and how they change based on who happens to be there. Cooper was in school so that left Natalie and Luke to play with Brooke and Preston. Usually Natalie and Brooke are buddy-buddy, but today Luke decided to be enthralled with Brooke. Everything was, 'Brooke come here!', 'Brooke, I need you!', 'Where Brooke at?' Natalie and Preston are a good team. Preston is so gentle and kind to Natalie, I think she really appreciates him. The Natalie-Preston team had a lot of fun creating mulch messes on the slide. Why is the mulch such a draw? Natalie (and Luke for that matter) cannot help but pick up the mulch, make mulch rain, throw it on their heads and ultimately throw it at someone else, which ends all the fun. After telling Natalie for the 5th time (I know I should have done the time out thing after the 2nd time, but I was enjoying my conversation with Jamie), I concluded that it was time to leave the play area completely to remove her from mulch temptation. She did not go easily. She unleashed one of her famous "Natalie Meltdowns" for the whole park to see and hear. All I could hear was a subliminal, 'I need a nap, I need a nap, I need a nap!!!'.

And that is exactly what happened 20 minutes later.