Not to mention the fact that if I want to see my children grow to adulthood with my sanity mostly intact, we would also benefit from a little sunshine and fresh air! "Go out and play, kids!"
Seeing as our opportunity to get to the park this week look limited, I decided to load the girls in the car for a trip to a park a couple of towns over. This part boasts not only a sprinkler park, mini train rides, a small zoo, a river, decent bathrooms and a snack bar but also a great playground with ample shade. You might be wondering why, after all the talk of sunshine, would I be looking for lots of shade? If you took one look at my pale, freckled Irish skin you would wonder no more. Add to that the fact that for some reason our town decided to place their playgrounds in the middle of big open spaces with no trees to give shade to the climbing structures. Granted they are mostly wooden but they have a fair share of metal and plastic and there are also older slides and monkey bars that are all metal. No shade means that on very hot, sunny days the kids can't even use the playground equipment!
By 10am we were on the road headed for the park. The train was already running when we got there so the girls first agenda item was to hitch a ride on the train and then take a tour through the adjacent zoo.
Eldest and Middle girls cozy on the train. Nice to know that at 8 this little train is still exciting for Eldest Girl.
Mom and Youngest wearing our cool shades and enjoying the ride.
The girls in the zoo checking out the sheep.
...and the chickens. Somehow this was still fun for them even though we have chickens living right next door who used to frequently roam into our yard. (The neighbors now have cats who like to roam into our yard and I think they fixed the chickens' fencing so they are more contained.)
After the train ride and quick tour of the zoo we headed off to the snack bar for lunch and then a short run through the sprinkler park. It was about 80 degrees out by that point so it was warm but not hot. They lasted about 20 minutes before they decided they were cold enough!
The youngest was acting tired by this point and had decided not to get wet. So, she hung out with me on the bench and just watched the action. (She later fell asleep in the car on our way to the girls dentist appointment and I was able to carry her in and place her on the waiting room couch where she slept for a solid 45 minutes. I am constantly amazed at her ability to sleep just about anywhere. I think she takes after me in the sleep department.)
Next stop was the playground which is next to the river. The Eldest is fascinated by nature and by any kind of body of water so she chose to explore the riverbank while Middle and Youngest were on the swings. We never even made it to the rest of the playground because the girls all decided to explore the river a bit more closely.
Youngest girl and I stayed on the embankment while the older two got close enough to find river rocks and splash a bit in the water.
I find it strange that in all the times I've been to this park I have never explored the river before. In fact, I never ventured close enough to realize that the little stream running through the park led to a much larger river. The park is large enough and the drop down to the river steep enough that you can stand at the playground and not even know it is there. And it's far enough away that you can't hear it over the sounds of the children playing. So, if it were not for the fact that Eldest girl is old enough to explore a bit farther afield (and can now swim) I still would not have known the joys of this river. A prime example of how children can lead you to experience wonderful things that you might never have found on your own.
Our time was short on this visit to the park because the older girls had afternoon dentist appointments (they both received a clean bill of dental health, thankfully). I'm thinking that the next outing to this park will include a more thorough exploration of what the river has to offer!
With the park and dental appointments finished the girls and I headed to a local soft-serve ice cream stand and enjoyed a mid-afternoon treat (shhh...don't tell the dentist that I fed my girls sugar so soon after they got their teeth all nice and clean). Then it was off to the grocery store for a quick-trip-turned-major-shopping-excursion. I think I had about 5-8 things I needed to get. But once I got there I remembered about 4 bags worth of stuff we were low on or out of - plus an additional bag worth of 'extras' that were on sale or that I bought because I had three children in tow who were being extremely good and so I was more inclined to say "yes" to a few snack foods.
Last night we took advantage of the weather and Rick cooked burgers out on the grill. If the weather forecast turns out to be true we may not have another chance to easily grill food outside for a while (although Rick has been known to grill even on rainy days - and once he even grilled steaks for Christmas while it was snowing, but it's never quite as enjoyable).
So, that was our day yesterday - a full day and a great one all around. Today we have gray skies and raindrops and the girls have been mostly good about finding a way to keep themselves entertained. It gives me hope that the transition to summer won't take as long as I had feared.
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