Marshall Park

We had another beautiful day in Portland - this weather is uncanny, and not seasonably appropriate, and most likely a sign of impending drought.... but it was a lovely day to be out and about. We grocery shopped at the crack of dawn in order to get that necessary chore out of the way, and then went to a new playground and park, Marshall Park. It's in the SW, about 1/4 mile from friend Anne's house, and Liesl and I had been there on Friday for a meetup playdate.  She clamored to return and show Sebastian, and he was agreeable, so off we went.

We started off at the shiny new playground, swinging on the boat swing and climbing around the webs and monkey bars. I love the way the green of the metal blends into the surrounding forest.

And then we moved on to the real task of the day: building a fort out of boulders, tree trunks, stones, and sticks. Sebastian was on a mission. (Liesl, not so much. She helped out occasionally...)  In the beginning, there was a big log and some stones strewn around the nature play area. I couldn't believe the size and weight of the rocks that Sebastian was able to lift and roll around. When did my boy get so strong?

Anne was at work, but Cuong and Camille were able to join us for some more fort building and muddy slopping and then a short hike through the forest.

Sebastian was very happy to put Cuong to work, moving large stumps and big rocks and breaking branches apart...

Liesl said this was a bow and arrow, and would be very useful in their fort for fighting off bad guys.

The girls got tired of construction and moved on to making mud potions - the intent of the potion was to kill worms, for some inexplicable reason, and also featured as a main ingredient whatever tiny worms they could find to smash into their muddy hole.

Oops! Lost a shoe in the muck. :)

The finished fort and the master builder. I love watching him create structures from natural materials and investigate the ways in which things can be built and stacked and leaned and balanced.

 

Marshall Park connects to a network of trails running around and through the SW neighborhoods - in particular, it connects over this log bridge to Tryon Creek, one of our favorite places to hike and explore. We ran out of time on Sunday - kids were hungry for lunch - but I can't wait to return and explore more.