An Evening at the Park

We have really been enjoying the beautiful weather lately. On Monday, I called hubby out in his office and asked him what he thought about eating dinner early and going to the park after. He asked if I had started cooking yet, and since I hadn't, he suggested we just go pick up some burgers and take them to the park with us.

He didn't have to ask me twice. The chicken went back into the fridge, and I was set!

So that's just what we did. We ate our burgers at a little picnic table and then enjoyed the evening. Ruthi had a great time swinging, sliding and climbing.

CJ asked his buddy Jake to go, so they took off on the trails that go through the park and goofed off.

We witnessed a duck fight while we were there. I had never seen anything like it. There were a few mallards and a few white ducks (I have no idea what they are called!) I heard a ruckus and then saw one of the mallards being ganged up on by the 3 white ducks. I'm not even joking - one of the white ones was holding that poor mallard under water! They were quite angry about something and were very loud about it. The two that were doing the most fighting really had their feathers ruffled! It was quite entertaining.

We were having a great time, but had one minor incident. Ruthi decided she wanted me to swing so she could "push" me. So I was swinging and letting her "push". All of a sudden, I went back and my head collided into hers. I jumped out to pick her up off the ground. It had to hurt, because my head was throbbing.

I felt like such a terrible mom, that I had not even thought about that happening. How was she supposed to know not to come closer to me? But she was fine in less than a minute and playing again.

I, however, had a headache the rest of the night.

She's one tough cookie!

She wanted to push me some more, so I made sure I was watching her every second and was ready to stop quick if she stepped too close.

We were only there for a couple hours, and we took over 100 pictures! How crazy is that? I don't know how many there were exactly, but there are 95 that I kept. I deleted all the ones that were out of focus or just not good. And I deleted a lot of them! Sheesh!

But I'm NOT posting them all - don't worry! But here are a few:





Look! I got a picture of CJ smiling!


Right after the "incident".


OK, so I don't really like this thing, but Chip was trying to teach Ruthi how to get to the top of it. He was teaching her to move her feet side to side and work her way around the spirals. She was so cute, as she would move her feet, she would say, "Side to side. Side to side."


But then she saw some bigger kids climbing it, and they were going straight up. So she was determined to try it that way. It was, after all, much faster!


She made it! (With Dad's help, of course!)


And then Chip and CJ were being silly. Chip "helped" his little boy climb up too! He didn't want him to feel left out! LOL!


And Ruthi helped Mommy get down the slide.


I thought this pic was cute. Chip took it (obviously) as we headed off down the trail. That's CJ and Jake out in front.


So, I suppose that was more than a few. But hopefully it will make up for my lack of posting pictures as often as someone (I'm not naming names...ahem....Dad...ahem) would like for me to!

(Although, since he and my Mom just set sail on a cruise ship to Alaska today, it will be over a week before he sees these!)

A Fun Evening

Yesterday, about 4:00, Ruthi climbed up in my lap and announced she wanted to "play sumpin." I asked her what she wanted to play, and out of the blue, she said she wanted to go to the park. This kind of surprised me that she even thought of this, because I'm not a very good mommy, and we haven't been to the park much at all this summer. It's just too hot - I don't do hot very well.

I love to go to the park in the spring and the fall, but not the summer. So she actually doesn't have lots of park experience. Yes, I'm a bad mommy.

However, I remembered that a couple weeks ago, while I was at the doctor, Chip had taken the kids to the park for a little bit. So maybe that's why she thought of it.

Anyway...it was a nice (not too hot) evening, so I thought it was a good idea. So I called Chip and asked if we could all go. He was about to run out to take care of something, and we just tagged along with him.

Then we stopped at Stevie B's Pizza (YUM!) to get some dinner to fuel up before heading to the park. Then off we went. Chip and CJ played tennis, and Ruthi climbed, slid, spun, jumped, threw played in the rocks, and even did a little swinging.

She also chased down a little boy, DETERMINED to give him a hug.

He wasn't very receptive.

She still had fun. Until we had to leave.

It wasn't pleasant....but it could have been worse. Actually, it wasn't that bad. She did protest and cry a bit. But she didn't throw a tantrum or anything...thankfully!

I took some pictures. The ones of Ruthi came out. The ones of the guys playing tennis did not. It was getting to dark, and my flash wouldn't work from the distance I was from them. Oh well. But here are some of Ruthi.

Today I went for my MRI. I was very happy to see that only my upper body (elbows up) had to be in that tunnel. If it had been one that my entire body had to go in, I probably would have needed a sedative! Tunnels are not fun for claustrophobics! Thankfully, I'm not severe - I can handle small places, just not really tight places. And as long as I can see out, I'm ok.

Chip told me later that when I was in the bathroom, he asked about it, because he was a bit concerned how I'd handle it if I had to be all the way in. I'm so glad that wasn't the case.

I could see out if I moved my eyes toward my feet, but there was also a mirror right above me that was angled out and allowed me to see out too. I had to lay there for about 25 minutes, but I had music in my ears, which helped drown out the noise of the machine, and I just relaxed without anyone climbing on me!!

When it was over, the technician commented on how well I did. She said, "You didn't move at all! It was so nice not to have to keep saying, keep you head still!" I was afraid if I moved, I'd mess something up, so I didn't move at all. I don't think I've ever been that still, for that long...even when I'm sleeping!

But it's over, and I'm glad. I should have the results in a few days. But I'm sure they won't find anything. The headaches are much better. If something was really wrong, they wouldn't be getting better. It would be nice if they could figure out what the cause was, but I have a feeling it will remain a mystery, just as so many other things have in my life! Oh well. I'm just thankful that I'm feeling better!

Now I need to go prepare dinner...later!

Another Day at the Park

Going to the park after a visit to the chiropractor seems to work wonderfully! This time we all went in for a visit. Then we stopped and picked up some lunch from Krystal's and took it to "the park with the ducks."

We sat at a picnic table and watched the squirrels while we ate. Then we walked down to the pond to feed the ducks.

Or at least try.

I have never seen ducks more disinterested in eating! There were a lot of people there, so I imagine these ducks were already quite stuffed!

There was a big bird hanging out. I think it was a crane? But I'm not sure. I'm not great at identifying birds. Maybe someone who looks at these pictures can confirm or correct me.

Anyway, he was very interesting to watch. And apparently he prefers meat to bread, as he was catching his lunch as we sat there. We were fascinated. He would stalk his pray, dive in, and catch it! Chip had the camera and did a great job capturing the event.

As we walked down to one of the pond, we noticed several turtles swimming around, and Ruthi really liked watching them.

We were going to let Ruthi play on the playground, and she really wanted to...But...There had to be about 100 kids running around. There were 2 or 3 large groups. And they were all at least a couple years older. We just didn't imagine that would end up being a pleasant experience. Of course, she didn't quite understand why were walking away from "all the fun!" But when I asked her if she'd like to go home and swim in her pool, she was more than happy to walk away!

We will have to try again another day....or maybe a different park.

We did quite enjoy the time we spent at the park on this day though!

An afternoon at the Park

I have more pictures I haven't posted and am still trying to get caught up! These were taken at the end of May.

It was a beautiful day, and I needed to go to the chiropractor. I don't usually attempt going unless Chip goes with me or he's at home with Ruthi. But I really needed to go, so I had a good talk with the kids about how they were to behave while we were there. And, they were great and there were no problems. Now, I'm not afraid to try to go without Chip!

Anyway, I promised them that if they were good, we'd go to the park afterward. My chiropractor is right on the square. So instead of parking behind his building like normal, I parked where I could find a spot on the square and we walked to his office from there.

I had packed a picnic lunch, so when we were finished, we went back to the car to get our food and sat in the park and ate. It's a historical park and hosts many events, so it's not really a park with swings or anything. But the kids had fun anyway. There's a little train to play on and Ruthi had a blast. And they love the fountain too.

We used to take CJ to this park all the time, because Chip's parents lived very close to it at the time, so we were close to it often. This was Ruthi's first time. As she was playing, I was remembering CJ being that small and playing. It's really not fair how time flies and they grow up so fast!

So, here are some pictures from the day.