A Day at the Park

Okay, it was really an hour, but for me that's good. It's another beautiful day here in Memphis - sun is shining, birds are chirping, high of 75 degrees, and not a cloud in the sky. I am usually not much of an outdoors person, and unfortunately Elise gets the raw end of the deal on that one. But, I figured I better take advantage of it while I can. The summers in Memphis are too hot to do much of anything outside and the winters are a little chilly for playing at the park, so I couldn't resist heading outside today.

We started with a quick 15 minute brisk walk for me to get a little exercise and then made our way to the park near our house. I pushed Elise on the swing for a while and she loved it. As I pushed her, she would point to the swing next to it and want me to get in it. So, I would give her a good push, hop in the swing and we would swing contentedly next to each other until we both stopped and then start all over again. After that, it was on to the slide. I taught her how to climb up the bars to get to the slide and then she would zoom down and we would do it all over again. The times when she has been to the park with her father have resulted in her learning how to throw the pebbles down the slide, so we did that for a while as well. After several minutes of throwing rocks (at least she doesn't eat them like her father did when he was little), a preschool from down the street descended on us and suddenly Elise had some competition for the slide. All was peaceful with the other kids and she enjoyed watching them play.

I'm proud to report that we have experienced our first minor playground injury. I wish I could say that it due to a difficult and daring stunt that she was attempting and just lost her concentration for a second, but I can't. It was the result of her walking into a wooden post with her cheek because she was too busy watching the other kids. But, we rubbed some dirt on it and got back out there!

After we were done at the park, it was another 15 minutes of walking for more exercise and then back home. Soon it will be lunch time and then my favorite part of the day, naptime! Hope you are all having as nice of a day as we are.