Mud Pie
After we sent Rachel home from the Bluegrass Festival, Katherine and I took another stroll through the craft booths and spent some time looking closely at the fiddles, hammered dulcimers, and guitars for sale. Then we moved out to the hill to listen to some music. Katherine's friend Owen asked if she could play and I sent them off to entertain themselves. That was the beginning of an afternoon of pure childhood joy...
It started out innocently enough. Just a couple of kids wandering around chatting. Then it progressed to digging "snake holes".
But the kids kept casting glances my way, seeing if anyone was REALLY watching...
...because there was a huge mud puddle near by that was just too tempting to ignore.
Owen's mom and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. Sometimes kids just need to be kids. Especially when mud is involved.
And that was when the real fun began.
When I saw the kids slapping mud onto the tops of these poles, I had to go investigate.
It turns out that they were molding bowls for their mud soup. They were "chefs" and were preparing a feast...
...complete with dishes, spoons, and soup.
Other kids came and joined them for periods of time. Lots of adults stopped to admire their creativity. Or just to stare in shock and wonder what kind of parent let their kids play in mud.
But I just saw a couple of delighted kids who will never forget their afternoon making mud pies. (And despite an hour and a half of mess, their hands were the only parts of them that were filthy!)