January 1 - Rinville Park

It wasn't warm today, but we had promised the boys a trip to the park nearby our home. Rinville Park is a beautiful place with walking paths through woods and fields. We drove to the park then let the boys bike to the playground. This was our first time here. We'll be back!

Rinville Castle, dating back to the 1500's.

Picnic tables dot the hillside - I'm already planning many summer outings :)


Through an old iron gate (in previous picture), we found the playground!

Aaron ran for the slide! Covered with frost, it was slick and fast...

...really fast! On our way home, Aaron told us, "My favorite was the slippery, turning slide. I went super fast and just banged my butt two inches!"

Silas tried, but it was like climbing up ice...

...defeated, he did the next best thing - just walk down beside the slide.

Daddy's turn...

He wasn't able to stick the landing any better than Aaron.

Daniel took Silas for a ride this time.

Daniel's expression of pain as he "banged his butt" again.

I got distracted for a while by the beautiful surroundings. Here, a frozen marsh.

A frosted bed of ?clover?

A narrow gap in the stone wall surrounding the playground opens to this. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you'll see the ruins of Rinville Hall (1819) now hidden by creeping ivy.

The playground is built on a hill. Aaron, especially, was thrilled to just run up and down. It is surrounded almost entirely by hedges, ivy-covered stone wall, and a marsh. I was trying to explain to my mom later how it felt being in there with the place all to ourselves. When I couldn't quite put my finger on it, she did. "Like The Secret Garden," she said. Yep, that's it. Only, it's The Secret Playground, the version for little boys ;)

Moriah spent her time differently...

Down the hill again...

...into "the jungle" they would say. :)

This place couldn't be any more fun!

old-fashioned swings

We got a little exercise ourselves!

I would have loved this swing as a kid - we should have had these instead of tire swings.

in action

The boys would have loved to stay and play all day despite the freezing cold, but we eventually had to go home.

Silas took a little slow-motion digger. Whoops. I probably should have been helping Daniel keep both boys and the stroller from rolling down the hill to the parking lot instead of taking more pictures...

Once the boys got in the car, they realized their feet were cold. "Can we warm up by the fire?" they asked. :)