The temperature was in the low 80s today and there was no rain in the forecast. It was a perfect day for the park. After an early morning excursion to IHOP, the girls asked to go to Clemyjontri Park in McLean, Virginia. 

Clemyjontri is quite the park. It has a carousel and a small train has just been added. The park has a rubberized surface and extensive play equipment with slides, bridges, rock climbing and ladders that kids can literally get lost in. There are tire swings and a maze. There are even musical instruments built into the equipment. It is amazing. 

One of our favorite parts of the park is the Peter Rabbit book statute. As you can see from the slide show above, it has been a favorite spots for pictures since well before Anne was even born.  Traditionally, the most recent picture of the girls in front of the Peter Rabbit book statue becomes the wallpaper on my phone. 

The Peter Rabbit pictures reminded me of a wonderful book four-year-old Anne and I ran across by chance at the Alexandria Library. The book is called Dear Peter Rabbit.  It is written by Alma Flor Ada and is illustrated by Leslie Tryon. The book is written entirely in letter form and I've gotten the impression, due to notes in the library book itself as well as a few videos online, that classroom teachers use this book to teach letter writing. I'm sure it is wonderful for that, but I must say it is quite an enjoyable read on its own terms. 

Dear Peter Rabbit cleverly combines the stories of Peter Rabbit, The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Little Red Riding Hood. Goldilocks turns out to be Goldilocks McGregor (yes, the fair-haired daughter of Peter's nemesis Mr. McGregor). Peter Rabbit happens to be friends with Pig 1, Pig 2 and Pig 3. The wolves from Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs rely on each other for comfort and advice after their bad experiences. This book is charmingly written with beautiful illustrations. 

Anne loves this book! She has had me read it repeatedly at bedtime over the past few weeks. After I read the book, she enjoys attempting to "read" each letter herself. Considering she doesn't actually read yet, this means she composes her own clever letters mixed in with what she can remember from each letter. In addition to being a great textbook for letter writing, this books is a great precursor to what readers will encounter in later literature. The epistolary novel was a standard format in the early days of the novel and is often revisited by authors to this day. It is wonderful to be exposed to this format so early in one's reading life.

Also, spotting references in one work to other works of literature is a key part of the study of literature. For example, one cannot understand T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, without recognizing his references to Shakespeare and the Arthurian legend. With Dear Peter Rabbit, Anne became so excited when she first recognized a new fairy tale being reference. Sure, she is a long way from analyzing T.S. Eliot, but I do believe this book aids that skill she will eventually need.

Anne and I are happy to give this book five stars. 

We have been stuck inside for far too long this winter. Moreover, we've been stuck inside too much over the last week. The large amount of snow we had, plus President's Day, kept Meg and Clare's preschool closed for a week. Sure, the girls played in the snow for a small amount of time each day, but it wasn't sufficient to get out their energy. On Saturday we attempted adventure. To leave the house, I had to first shovel out the car. We went to Lakeshore Learning for the Saturday craft, but Baby Anne began screaming and proved such a distraction we had to leave quickly. We traveled to Vienna, Virginia for the Northern Virginia Model Railroaders open house (see photo above). The model trains were quite fun (with characters from Thomas the Tank Engine making appearances on the tracks to the delight of my children), but, prior to seeing the model trains, large snow drifts had made parking quite difficult and by the time I found a parking place Clare had fallen asleep. Clare woke up enough to see the trains, but was very groggy. We ended the day with a nature class on owls (see my previous post on nature class) at the Long Branch Nature Center. The nature class was fun and included a great owl craft, but Baby Anne again began crying when I put her in the Bjorn for our short nature walk in the snow. We had our fun, but it was a challenging day.

The weather has warmed up and I am committed to getting the girls outside today. The only problem with outside play right now is the mud. With piles of snow melting, there is nothing but mud all around. So, I've decided it is time for a trip to Clemyjontri Park. Clemyjontri is an amazing park, run by Fairfax County, in McLean, Virginia. It has a carousel (which won't be open until warmer weather) along with four distinct play areas, each with different themes. There are playhouses; pretend airplanes, firetrucks, school buses; musical instruments; and largest play structure I have ever seen. When my mother-in-law saw Clemyjontri Park, she couldn't believe there was not an entry fee. Like so many attractions for kids in our area, it is free. For our purposes today, the best thing about Clemyjontri is that it has a rubberized play surface, i.e., no mud (though as you can see from the pictures below taken in previous years, one of our favorite areas is in the dirt and will undoubtedly be muddy).

I do hope our adventure is easier today than it was on Saturday. It must be said that some of the greatest adventures happen because difficulties arise. But, I think we could use an easy day of just running and playing.