Anything is fun with a three-year-old along

Somehow Cliff got involved in helping a nice lady we'd never met get her tractor running.  She has someone who will mow her little five-or-so acres, but she needed to get her Oliver 550 running.  Cliff ought to know all about 550's, since he's had at least half-a-dozen of them.  

The Little Princess was here today, so this morning I said, "Cliff is going to go work on a lady's tractor.  You and I can stay here at the house, or we can go with him, but we will have to play outside."

She thought we should go along.  

When we arrived, the nice lady invited us in, but I told her the kid does better outside where she can run free, and thanked her.  She said we were welcome to play on her front porch then, so we took the baby doll and a blanket to throw on the concrete.  Little Princess immediately pronounced the porch "our house".  And the area where I spread the blanket out was "our bedroom".  

After playing house for awhile, I suggested we walk around and find an adventure.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera with me on the first leg of our walkabout, which took us into the lady's back yard.  There are many, many trees on her place, the back yard being no exception.  I spotted a couple of side-by-side stumps and said, "Oh, look!  Wishing stumps!"

While we were wishing, a very brave squirrel climbed right down the nearest tree as though he wanted to make a wish too.

We each chose a stump and sat down.  I closed my eyes and said, "I wish this little girl will always be happy."

Then it was her turn:  She scrunched her eyes closed and wished for a dog.  Really?  She just got a toy fox terrier for Christmas last year.  Oh well.  It's her wish. 

There is a long driveway going up to the lady's house, so I suggested we walk down the driveway to the road.  

It was a nice little stroll, and on the way we discovered a tiny brook.

Unfortunately, we didn't see any tadpoles or frogs.

We cautiously checked out a hollow tree to see if anything was living in there.  

We spent some time making necklaces out of white clover flowers, and chains from dandelion stems.  Look closely and you will see the white clover blossoms against her shirt.  When I started to take a picture she gave me a phony smile and I said, "You don't have to smile."

So she didn't.

We wandered back up the driveway to check on Cliff.

There he was, doing what he does best.

I told the child to go hug a tree... and she did.

It was a great morning.  Cliff finished up with the tractor, and my little nature-loving buddy and I kept ourselves occupied.  She was running most of the time we were there.

It's fun to see the world through the eyes of a child.