The last snow-free days were spent outside as much as possible.  My little trail explorers and I had one last visit to Elk Island Park before they headed home.

The park offered so many play experiences in a small area; playground, trails, water, sand, leaves, wildlife and some wonderful picnic spots.  We spent four hours there on our final visit.

From the parking lot, we went to explore the thatched roof house that commemorates the Ukrainian settlers.  They noticed the roof as we walked up the path.  They asked why it had a 'stick roof like the little pigs house'.  

The trail led to the playground.  On the way they tossed leaves and rolled in them, noticing that the leaves were crunchy and not wet.  Who needs toys when you can have leaves to play?  

After spending an hour at the playground, we opted for a quick snack.  The girls said they were going to choose a picnic table while I got the snacks from the truck.  I could hear screaming and laughter coming from the closest table.  A squirrel was following them.  As they ran from table to table, the squirrel ran from table to table.  "Gramma, the squirrel is on our table!"

The dock was next on our play list.  They ran ahead of me and then stopped.  As I walked closer, they started yelling "Watch out Gramma.  The squirrel is after you!"  

When we got to the dock they checked to see if the water had cleared but it was still murky so there were no minnows to watch.  'Mr. Muskrat' was performing.  He would swim close to the dock and then dive under water.  The girls would try and guess where he would surface.

The water was calm and the blue sky had a few fluffy clouds.  We watched the reflections on the surface.  The girls had fun throwing rocks into the water again.  They would watch to see how big the 'water circles' were with the different sizes of rocks that they would throw.

When they grew tired of playing by the water, we climbed a rock staircase in the side of a hill that lead to a picnic shelter.  The shelter overlooked the lake.  We could see the birds bobbing for food in the lake. 

As we set out our picnic food, another squirrel showed up.  I could tell it was used to having people feed it.  It was very brave and tried getting into one of our bags.  That proved to be very entertaining for the girls.

Inside the shelter, the girls found a large stone fireplace.  Both ran over to it and looked up the chimney.  I asked what they were looking for.  "Santa!"

On the drive back, the bison were grazing in the ditches.  A coyote ran across the road in front of us.  A large flock of geese flew overhead.

This was another great outdoor day for us.  The snow will probably cover the ground by the time they get to sleep over again.  There will still be outdoor adventures but of the snowy kind.