Fun Day with the Grands

I took care of the grandchildren today since my co-grandmother was sick and my granddaughter has the week off from school, and of course the little one isn't in preschool yet. It was a rainy, cold day...or at least this morning was and I was wracking my brain trying to come up with something fun and different for them to do. Always difficult on a rainy day since it's not very pleasant outdoors. 

A few days ago they'd enjoyed playing under the partially collapsed umbrella that protects the hot tub. They were using it like a tent. So I decided that we could rig up a tent in the office that I share with the kid's Murphy Bed. We pulled the bed down and rigged up a very sophisticated (not) rope system with clamps and draped sheets to form a tent. The kids grabbed all sorts of pillows and blankets and then tucked themselves in with tablets and books. I even served a picnic lunch in the tent. They were surprisingly absorbed and very quiet for a couple of hours. Brilliant! Not something quickly erected, but it made great use of a rainy day. 

As you can see, the sun came and when this afternoon, complete with rainbows which we could see outside my office window. Good luck for all, we pronounced! 

These are probably the last leaves on the Japanese Maple outside our kitchen window. You can see that the tips were slightly burned in the terrible heat we had this summer. I'm sure that this cool, damp weather feels really good after a tough year!