An apple a day

While grocery shopping is often an errand that our Explorers' parents leave tots in the care of our Bag of Tricks Babysitters in order to tackle, on Friday morning it was the kids who browsed the aisles.
Accompanied by Amy and Yamileth, the tots in attendance for Friday morning's session of 2: Cool for School headed out on their most colorful and tastebud-tempting excursion yet! After trekking to Prospect Heights' Vanderbilt Ave, Anderson, Kiera, Thelonius, Jackson, Tommy, Mia, Noon and Gaia walked single file through their neighborhood grocery store in search of items pictured on their lists. What a fun lesson in shapes, colors and sizes! Apples? Check! Carrots? Check! Cookies, milk and grapes? Check, check and check! As found items were crossed off of lists, the cuties drew more than a few glances from fellow shoppers more senior than themselves as well as compliments on both their fantastic behavior and cuteness!
The air-conditioned comfort of the market must have lulled the group into a false sense of temperature moderation, because by the time Amy led her little Explorers out the door, visions of swings and other playground wonders filled little heads.
A short stroll to Underhill Playground was hollowed by over an hour of outdoor fun. While there Thelonius and Tommy demonstrated that all of the time they have spent together has left them as close as brothers: bickering and all! Any toy that one boy chose to play with the other immediately wanted for himself. While the heat seemed to be making the two oldest boys in the group cranky, Gaia was relaxed into a slumber that looked so sweet she would have put Sleeping Beauty to shame.
The breeze blowing onto the group from the direction of the sprinkler was just enough to make the temperature bearable and to help make up Amy's mind about where the group's next excursion would take them: back to the playground, but this time in bathing suits for a run through the sprinkler of their own!