Kids have energy, film at 11.

One of my friends linked to The Real Reason Why Kids Fidget (an article in the Huffington Post).

Honestly, kids have energy. Who is surprised by this? I'm happy if they don't dismantle my house.

This morning, it was heading that way, so I took them to the 'walking park', the neighborhood park nearest us. It's 4/10 of a mile away, and its tile is in scare quotes because actually there are four parks I'd classify as being within walking distance of us - this is just the closest.

The others are 8/10 of a mile for another neighborhood park, walking only (there's a trail in there - so it's longer by car), 7/10 of a mile for the water park by the Korean War Memorial, or 0.9 miles to the upper part of Memorial Park (1.1-1.2 for the lower part). The upper part of Memorial Park has both a water feature and the playground with the enormous slide, so.

We are blessed. Especially because small children have - as I started out saying - a LOT of energy. Drew _ran_ all the way to the walking park, stopping when I called out (because I couldn't see him again) for him to wait, and stopping for streets that needed to be crossed. Ian ran a little ways and then walked the rest. And then both went wild on the playground. Using curbs as balance beams, climbing all over the play structure, bouncing on the teeter totter, swinging on their stomachs, and SOMEHOW talking ME into a wild game of tag. The only one tired at the end of that was...ME.

I did text Scott to come get us, but that was because Ian wanted to stay and Drew wanted to go. As it turned out, when Drew realized that if he played any longer he'd be _walking_ back with Dad, who wasn't tired, he decided he could go home with us in the car, so we all drove back. :)

Drew also said, as we were going over, "Mom, know what happens when I use up all my energy? Poof, I get more!" Said with a fountaining-up-from-the-head gesture with his hands.

Yes, Drew. I know. Trust me, I know. :)

I'm going to call that a triumph: chicken/pineapple slow cooker tagine

Oh man I am stuffed. Happily. The kids mostly ate the rice (Drew) and olives/pineapple (Ian), but both tried the chicken, and Ian at least said 'yum' and liked the spicing. Scott and I loved it.

( Recipe, in case anyone wants it )

And enough leftovers for me to have a couple lunches this week from it (one wrap in a tortilla - yes, I'm weird - and one salad with a side of the dish cold), plus probably another meal's worth of rice (for Drew) and meat/sauce/whatever (for Scott and I, with olives for the boys).

...yes, really, it went that fast. Inhale-worthy. Though if I weren't cooking for the boys, I'd be really tempted to omit the black olives. They don't hurt the flavor, but they're not adding much ... except for making the small ones even try the meal. Which is a lot. (And no one even noticed the onion in the end result, which is IMO the way onion should be - adding to the whole and keeping quiet about it. :)