Park Week

One perk of living in the Midwest, or at least in Minnesota, is that there are tons of parks and playgrounds everywhere you go, even in the smallest of towns. Our town of 24,000 people has at least 15 parks (not including school parks) that I know of, each with huge areas to run and explore, and each with playgrounds that have swings, jungle gyms, and other cool stuff like rock walls and merry-go-rounds. In HB, to find the kind of parks we have in MN, you had to drive at least 20 minutes, and they were always so crowded it was hardly worth going.

During our last week of summer (Aug 31-Sept 4), I decided to make it special by going to various parks every day. We made it to 7 parks and one museum! It was my last hurrah with the boys before Tanner started preschool and I started teaching music classes 3 days a week (6 hrs total of teaching a week).

It was so fun to see Dallin getting really good at climbing. I didn't think the day would come so soon when Dallin not only would make it to the top of the jungle gym without any help, but also beat his big brother to the top. Also, it is really amazing to see how well DJ catches himself from falling, he is really controlled with every step!

One day, Tanner helped pack a picnic lunch. After eating, we played King and Queen up in the playground because it had a tall tower. 

We went on family bike rides in the evenings when Jeremy was home early. I was hoping to take the boys on more bike rides by myself this summer, but my sciatica issues make it really hard for me to pull their weight, especially on inclines.

We took a friend with us to this park one morning.

Soon, some bigger boys showed up (about age 10 and 11). They were some of the nicest kids I've ever met. They played catch and chase with my little boys for 45 minutes, cheered them on, listened to them and went along with all their requests, and even pushed them on the swings and carried them places. When we had to leave, the big boys gave their major league baseball to Tanner. I'm mean, if that isn't "Minnesota Nice," then I don't know what is!

Selfies at the park near Burg's nursery. 

This park had big enough swings for me to do underdogs with the boys. Dallin loved them. Tanner learned how to slink through these squares without getting hurt.

Tanner kept begging me to paint his face batman style, so this seemed like the perfect week to do it.

The boys got plenty of time on the playground in our own backyard in the evenings. 

At this park, we played trains. I was given some really amazing food on this train ride to New York.

At this park, the boys were able to climb the red slide really easily. They climbed up one and then went down another, over and over again.

One afternoon, I found Tanner putting duct tape on Dallin's leg. Tanner said triumphantly, "Don't worry Mom, we covered up the pen on Dallin's leg, so now you won't get mad at us!"

The reveal.

I took the boys to the Rochester children's museum. The exhibit was a castle theme. 

We had a lot of fun in the craft room.

And then spent most of the time in the king's kitchen.

I really enjoyed this week to focus completely on my little boys. I had such a FUN summer with them! We had our fair share of travel, outings, camping, work and parties. But when it's all said an done, my favorite things that we did together were the simple things: school lunch almost everyday and playing outside in the yard. Here is our last day of summer, on Sunday, Sept 7, right after we got home from church.