Dora the Explorer

After Mass, it was so wonderful to spend a relaxing Sunday at home! I just wanted to share a really fun game that Leia, Annie and I played today. It was simply called "Dora" from the show Dora the Explorer. Here are "Dora," the little girl explorer played by Leia Rose (note the backpack); and "Tico," the Spanish-speaking mouse played by Annie. Behind the camera is "Benny," the chubby bull, . . . played by Mamma. (Sadly fitting!) They are getting ready to explore, so we sang the Dora theme song.

And, still in preparation for exploring, here is "Dora" again (note the sneakers that Shenandoah inspired her to start wearing again, yay!), "Boots" the monkey played by Curious George, and a new character named "Shark," who's goal it was to eat green leaves. [This goal, by the way, is Leia's favorite outside activity now. Take shark outside and have him eat leaves, . . . and chestnuts and grass and twigs and mulch and pine straw . . .)

First, we had to consult the map, so we sang the map song. Map told us we had to go THROUGH the jungle playground, ACROSS the cave path, UNDER the waterfall, and OVER the forest until we found the green leaves for shark.

Oh no, a fork in the cave path (there really is a little hole/cave in the ground near there), . . . we have to choose the one marked with a pine cone!

Along the way, we had to tumble down a treacherous slide! Here's "Dora" helping "Tico."

Whew! With the treacherous slide in our past, we were off exploring again, . . . shark on the lookout for some nice green leaves.

Here is "Boots" ziplining over the forest! We're almost to the leaves!

And as shark was eating the yummy leaves he found, we had to rescue Boots, the monkey, from (what else) the monkey bars. Ha! This ended the saga of the lost leaves. We did it!

And with all that nature, Leia Rose was ready for some true indoor girlie fun: nail polish!

This evening when we were listening to the songs from Cats (again), Leia Rose asked us what it meant to be "wise." I'm sure she heard that word during the "Old Deuteronomy" song. Anyway, we told her, "Children are never described as wise because they haven't lived long enough to have many experiences. So someone who is wise is usually a little bit older, has had lots of experiences, and knows lots of things." We then asked her who she thought was the wisest, . . . and she said Papa! Congratulations Papa, for making such a good impression!