I don't know about you, but when we're having a bad day, or week as the case may be, the best remedy for us is to just get outside. Luckily we have no end of new places to explore here. We pack a lunch, explore the trails (and sometimes the footpaths which is how we ended up at this particular creek and is also what I get for letting the six year old lead the way through the underbrush), build a fairy house if we find a place that's just begging for a fairy house and even pick up a nature treasure or two. What we don't do is bicker and poke and fight and all around intentionally irritate our brothers. Somehow being out in nature takes the fun out of all of that. Who cares about how many times you can touch your brother before he loses his mind when there are rocks to throw and dams to build in the creek? Or in John's case, trees to hug?
In other related thoughts, can anyone identify our nature treasure? I told the boys my best guess was some sort of chrysalis but my internet searching to confirm this has been in vain.
Nature study. It goes so much more smoothly when you actually know what the nature is.