Sharks and Minnows

We headed for the playground after "Apple Secrets" and star apple snacks (simply cut an apple around its equator instead of from the top down) but there were hardly any crabapples left on the trees! Another sign that Autumn is coming early this year. We have always gone apple picking this week, the week of my mom's birthday, but this year it was the wrong time to come. We were about 1 1/2 weeks late. The children had a good time, though, pointing to remaining apples up high in the branches and I shook them and shook them to see if they would fall down.

Then we played Sharks and Minnows at the playground. This is a game I fondly remember from my childhood summers at the pool. In this version, the playground structure was the boat, the wood chip mulch around it was the safe zone, and the green grass was the ocean where the sharks roamed. Rebecca and I were sharks and Leah and Natalie were minnows for the first round and then we switched. The we switched again and L and N made the tactical error of running across the field to the community house steps and declaring it a safe zone. Well, of course, Becca and I just prowled back and forth along the steps, waiting for them to come down. They had no other place to go. Lastly, we played an alternative version where I was the lone minnow and everyone else tried to catch me. That was fun! I'm usually not the fastest runner in a group so it was fun to be able to wheel and turn and loop back and tease them and then sprint away. We all ended up in a heap on the ground, laughing. It was a very nice afternoon.

Tomorrow Story Time at the library starts up. We have switched to a different library within the county since the branch closest to us had a terrible storytime program. Hopefully this southern branch, which is much smaller and not so stuck up in general, with be more friendly and kid centered.