Before the Rain

So today was the last of the heat wave, before we return to normal spring temperatures. Tonight, we are expected to have some whopper storms as the cold front comes through. Tomorrow, wet and chilly. So I decided to take advantage of the sunshine, the warm, and get the boys up out of bed and to the zoo.

Then Andy decided to sleep in, for once. Until 9. If you know anything about the zoo, you know that you kinda need to be there at 8:30 to get a parking spot, which would have meant getting up at 7 for us, the usual time my boys are bouncing into their clothes. So, no zoo. But very rested, very bouncy children. What to do, what to do.

My mom came up with an idea of pure brilliance- one of the parks we don't usually use had some new play equipment up, why don't we grab some lunch and check it out? And I would just like to say, thank you, Mom. Because it was an absolutely glorious afternoon.

We grabbed some sandwiches from the downtown deli, something I don't plan to repeat. They turned out to be expensive and not very good. But kids don't care when there is New Park To Be Explored. Fortunately, I also had chips and sodas in the back of the van, so it was totally awesome. We went down, munched our lunches, and ran around like wild things. The equipment is gorgeous... and dinosaur-themed. Totally. Rocked. Then they discovered there is a little creek running through the park neat the equipment, and that mommy doesn't mind boys getting muddy and dirty, so there were Adventures To Be Had. There were also plenty of kids (we almost didn't get a parking spot there, either!), and I had plenty of little ones to watch and families to be entertained by. I usually do some "writing" when we go to the park, but I never managed to get my pen out today, too much to see, so many little ones being so adorable.

When we got bored with that, we took a stroll, and discovered another little playground with slightly older equipment just out of sight- fewer kids, but that meant it was quieter, and it turns out the other kids who had discovered the area were ones that liked playing with my kids. More adventures! More exploration! More bouncing!

We were at the New Park for over four hours. We went through half a case of soda, and would have gone through more if we had taken some on our stroll (which we would have done if we had known there was more equipment). Next time, I'll know to come equipped with water and apples. We'll see how long the charm lasts of having this park in the Regular Visit rotation.

But now, the rain. So tomorrow, the library.


As an aside, I've been doing some cooking. Kinda.