Sidewalk Chalk and Rain Puddles

We are thousands of miles from the closest Target store, our local Gymboree Play and Music, and from the library with which we are so familiar.  It takes us 45 minutes to reach the nearest Starbucks location.  Friends and family members can only be reached via the internet.  As you might imagine, we have been leading a much simpler life here in our small town in Holland. 

We may explore the area outside of our town as a family on the weekends, but we don't get much farther than the local Albert Heijn grocery store during the week.  And while we often make DAILY trips to the AH, I have to find ways to occupy the rest of our time...without the luxury of resorting to going to the mall or passing through the Starbucks drive-thru.  I don't really want to travel too far from the Little Dutch House with the twins on my own, and there's only so much I can do with them when I'm flying solo.  We've checked out the local pet store a couple times, and we make frequent trips to the town's dilapidated play areas.  More often than not, though, I find ways to keep the twins happy and entertained within the confines of the bungalow park. 

Yesterday morning, after a stop at the grocery store to pick up ingredients for dinner, we headed into the back yard to play for a few minutes before lunch.  While Will pushed his school bus around the yard and hunted for rocks on the patio, Maddie got busy chalkin'!  That girl loves her some sidewalk chalk - so much so that she threw a 10 minute long tantrum today when I proposed that we take a short walk.  She wanted to draw with chalk instead.  I was only able to convince her to take a walk when I promised her again and again that she would be able to draw with chalk when we returned home.  It is interesting to watch Maddie as she works - she is very methodical about the marks that she makes on the patio.  She works her way around the patio, drawing a line or two in each square until she has covered most of the patio with lines.  Then, she picks up a new color and begins the process all over again.  It's serious business.

It was much too wet to draw after last night's rainfall to draw on the patio this morning, though, and I was determined NOT to go to the grocery store today, so after breakfast, I helped the twins into their colorful rain boots and into some light jackets and led them outside with our sights set on the puddles that had formed on the road!  When we found that the puddles of water in the park just weren't big enough for our liking, we walked to the parking lot outside of the nearby soccer club, where we found the bigger puddles that we desired.  Two minutes later, Will fell in.

After I helped Will up and he mustered up the courage to splash around once more, wet overalls and all, we all had a blast!  I may not win an award for Mother of the Year for allowing my children to get soaking wet in puddles of dirty water on a cold day when one of those children already has a runny nose, but that's just fine.  I don't need an award to know that I brought some joy to their little lives...through some very simple pleasures.