It rained quite a bit yesterday and the dead end street next to the house flooded as it usually does. I had been out to pick up Charles because Mom had an engagement at the University. I was distracted dealing with Alice upon our return so the boys managed to get out their wheeled vehicles and tromp through the puddles before I noticed. At that point, I figured they were in for baths anyway, so I took them down to the pond (the preparation for which is an epic tale in its own right, due mainly to Charles’ sensibilities and lack of diction).
The pond was quite full and the run off stream was filled to capacity. Charles spent his time digging in the sand. Corwin played in the stream for a bit. He did like the tiny (2 foot) dam and the waterfalls going over it, but he complained that the water was too cold. I was a bit concerned about going over the grass while it was soaked, but the stream only flows right after a rain.
The beach had a big channel dug in it from the runoff. Not satisfied with the natural beauty of the valley, the boys immediately started on some water control projects. They created dams and ponds, although Corwin learned about failure modes for earthen dams. He eventually got to the point of making three layers of dams so that he could watch them collapse in sequence. Charles helped with some of the excavation and adding additional water to the system to encourage its collapse.
After a couple hours of transforming a pristine sand valley into a devasted area of failed large scale engineering projects, we headed home for some baths.