Playgrounds and Neighbors

Spencer has been in school all week.  While he's gone Tessa keeps hanging on me constantly wanting me to do something with her.  While I love spending time with her, I have other things that need to get done as well.  But I feel so bad when she gets that "look" on her face when I tell her I'm busy.  So I've spent a lot of time playing princesses, baby dolls, dress up, Wii, coloring, and reading.  We also went to the puppet show at the library then spent one hour reading books and then ran into my mother-in-law and nephews and spent some time visiting with them.  We went shopping together at Kohl's and Costco (she actually likes shopping, unlike myself--or Spencer).  As a result I haven't gotten much done around the house this week.

Thursday afternoon I briefly thought about what we'd do on Friday for our Friday Fun Day.  It's Spencer's early day from school so we still have time to do something.  I considered the Reservoir, Seven Peaks, or a splashpad.  But then we had this crazy burst of lightning, thunder, and rain.  The weather Thursday night said to expect the same kind of sudden storm for the next few days.  I could see us getting everyone in swimming suits and sunblock, packing towels and water and snacks, driving 30 minutes to get somewhere, and then having the storm hit.  So I tried thinking of something that didn't involve water.

Friday morning I woke up in a grouchy mood.  Maybe cuz I had a crappy night's sleep or maybe just because I'm me, but I didn't really get out of it.  So I didn't want to go sit outside in the 90+ degree weather nor did I want to go and spend a lot of money.  And Clara was pretty ornery and I wanted her to get a nap in the afternoon.  And I really wanted to catch up on laundry, dishes, and cleaning up the house.  So I decided after Spencer's school we'd come home, put Clara down for a nap, let the kids watch half an hour of TV while I started on changing sheets & laundry, then do homework with the kids, then have the kids help me pick up toys in all the rooms of the house.  Then after dinner we'd go to a park when it's a little cooler.  The kids weren't too happy so I told them we'd go to a park they haven't been to and get ice cream after.  That worked.

Sadly my kids have never been to Murray Park so that's where we went.  We went in the main entrance off of State Street and the kids just wanted to play at the playground, not explore the stream or anything else.  So we pushed the girls on the swings and watched the kids play around the very crowded playground.  It was pretty windy, but they had a lot of fun!

 

Then we cleaned their hands with baby wipes and hand sanitizer and drove to Cold Stone.  I had bought one of the City Deals certificates a while ago and I really like Cold Stone.  Brodie actually prefers his favorite kind from the grocery store, which is why we rarely go there.  But I enjoyed the Founders' Favorite (sweet cream ice cream with brownies, caramel, fudge, and pecans) and Tessa got pink ice cream (strawberry) with sprinkles while Spencer got banana ice cream with gummy bears.  Clara shared mine with me.  Well, she screamed every time I took a bite and really thought the whole thing was hers.

Saturday morning I was up with the kids at 7 so I could get everyone fed, dressed & ready to head out to the Out of Darkness Walk at Sugarhouse Park.  Earlier this year our neighbor's 13 year old son committed suicide.  This walk was to raise money and awareness for suicide prevention.  His favorite color was red, so we all wore red.  Some of our neighbor's family members came in from California and a few other families from the neighborhood also came down to support them.  I'm so grateful I live in such a great neighborhood!  I thought the turnout for the walk was great!  There were so many people there.  It's sad to think of how many people lost someone they loved to suicide, but great that the families have so much support and are spreading awareness that will hopefully help others considering suicide.

The first thing Spencer noticed as I was applying sunblock to the kids was a bird nest in the corner of the pavilion.  Turns out there was one in each of the 4 corners.  The mommy birds were busy flying back and forth to feed the hungry little mouths.  They were really cute.

We brought the old double Graco stroller to push both girls in.  Not fun to push both girls up those hills.  Especially after borrowing my sister's Phil & Ted stroller earlier this summer and now having something to compare it to.  Thankfully Brodie pushed it most of the time.  Really if it were 15 degrees cooler and Tessa could walk the whole way by herself I really think I would have enjoyed it.  It's a beautiful park and I had some great neighbors to talk with as we walked.  But after we completed one rotation of the park and started on the second, the kids were really whining and I was really sweaty so the kids and I cut out to a playground while Brodie finished the second lap with the group.  Spencer had a great time at the playground but after 5 minutes Tessa just kept complaining of how hot all the playground equipment was.  And it was only 11:00 in the morning!  I was hot and sweaty and Clara's face was red so we stayed on the grass under a tree.  Clara was mad about this and kept crying and trying to go play with her siblings.

We then headed back over to the main area to wait for Brodie and the group to finish the second lap.  While waiting Spencer had his face painted.  He wanted to be a black puppy dog.

Then we came home, had lunch, and sent Spencer to his best friend's house for a playdate.  I took a second shower and filled 100 mini-tarts to bring to our neighbor's house for a BBQ.  We hung out on the grass (everyone else sat at tables but with Clara I decided the grass would be easier for us) eating hamburgers and hotdogs and some yummy salads and stuff.  Spencer and Tessa had a blast playing with a few of the older neighborhood kids who were there and Brodie enjoyed visiting with the adults.  I was able to do a little visiting, while mainly taking care of the baby.