Back to Fagnoon

There are places in the world where it is still quite cold in March. This is not one of them. We are deep into spring weather and rapidly careening toward summer temps. But for now, while our days are still pretty and pleasant and not sweltering, we are trying hard to get in as much "outside time" as possible. So this weekend we took a little day trip.

There's a special place just across the river that our kids just love. The architecture was inspired by Dr. Seuss (at least that's how it looks to us), and it's a great outdoor place to get away from the big smoky city. Fagnoon is a non-word that's a combination of the Arabic words for Crazy and Art. They call it an "Art School," but it's like no school I ever attended, unless the playground could take the place of the classrooms. These big nets we're climbing on are made of strips of colorful cloth twisted together.

We don't have a backyard, so the kids love to run around in the grass and dirt. On previous trips out there, we've seen giant water-balloon fights and ridden camels.

When they fired up the grill you see here, we got inspired and came home and cooked out, too. After supper, we even roasted marshmallows over the charcoal fire. Of course, we were back on our 5th-story balcony instead of out in the wild, but roasted marshmallows are good in any setting. You can't really see them, but the kids are climbing on that huge mass of netting behind the grill.
Here's Sawyer posing like an iron statue. He may have learned this trick from his dad.

Sarah Claire couldn't get enough of climbing on the bridge.

In addition to all the climbing and running and yelling and playing, the kids do actually also do some art activities each time. A favorite is always making things from clay on the spinning wheels. I think it's a favorite because it involves getting muddy clay all over your hands. And arms. And clothes. And parents.

We didn't make Sarah Claire demonstrate her mad sculpting skills, but she did participate in lunch time with us.
And boy did she have fun with this swing!

Overall, it was great to be out in the farmland, breathing fresh air and playing in the dirt. We may have to try to get back out there again before it's too hot to want to do anything outdoors!