6-30-11

we decided to stick close to home for today's park venture, so we headed out to liberty park, just past the auto square. i came prepared with a couple of towels to wipe up the dew on the slides.

liberty park:

• location: 5 stars (so close to home!)
• fun-factor: 4.5 stars (3 big playground sets with lots of different things, rubber ground cover. didn't earn 5 stars due to only 6 benches being located in one area. would be nice to have more, around the perimeter, under some trees.)

brenny climbed up the little rock-climbing wall 3 times!
dash was a little hesitant to do this one at first

sitting in the big 'bath tub' (as brennan called it)

dashiell enjoyed this swing...although it meant nana had to push him!

sort of a luxury swing seat, ya think?
climbing again...
neither are pleased that i want a photo of them together
the 'bath tub'! it swayed back and forth. fun for many people at once.
we left after about an hour. it was much warmer today, as the marine layer burned off fairly early.

also, LOTS of kids started appearing around 9am, and it was starting to get crowded.

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we had their 2nd teeny tiny baseball class today.

dashiell wasn't too interested again (at first) until i told him he had to participate the whole time or he wouldn't get the (free) milkshake from chick-fil-a. the coupons expire today, so we had to go get them today. it seemed like the perfect reward.

brenny started out well, but it was quite warm and brenny was getting tired quickly. he actually knocked out on the way to chick-fil-a and never got his milkshake. it's still in the freezer right now, as a matter of fact...

6-29-11

we took matt to cc this morning, then headed straight to kaiser to get dashiell's blood drawn.

it was bad. the second he realized what he was there for, he struggled to get away...crawling away on the floor, stiffening his legs so i couldn't get him into my lap... =( poor thing

nana and brenny stayed downstairs where peds is, and she heard him loud and clear.

he bawled LOUDLY for probably >10 minutes.

he told me he never, ever wants to go back and do that again.

he almost didn't make it to playing at central park, in la palma, because he couldn't stop crying

so...

central park, la palma

• location: 4 stars (close to home and nice, family friendly area. there were parents biking with kids, people walking dogs, old chinese ladies doing tai chi...)
• fun-factor: 4 stars (although not a very big playground, the big rock to climb on was a lot of fun. also, rubber ground cover)

we stayed about 1hr45min today! longest stretch so far. probably helped that it the marine layer didn't clear up until the last 20 or so min that we were there. so it was nice and cool (hence their jackets being on!)

see the ladies in the background doing tai chi? =)

whee!


brennan was actually saying, "dashiell, get away from me!" because he felt dash was crowding him


a rare moment, where both were smiling.

it lasted about 1.2 seconds.

6-28-11

after dashiell's allergist appt (which we still need to get blood drawn at the lab for...)

we headed out to a nearby park in garden grove...

euclid park was small, with a tall red fence surrounding it...only one playground unit, with a young couple sitting underneath it smooching (dashiell needled them by making noises, but they were not moving) so we moved on...

• location: 3 stars (close to GG costco)
• fun-factor: 2 stars (pretty boring little playground)

so we continued to drive on...(using google maps on my phone as a guide)

and we found modjeska park in anaheim

• location: 4 stars (nice, big park. lots of trees, even some seasoned-softball players out there playing games!)
• fun-factor: 3.5 stars (lots of things to play with, adequate benches in the shade, and clean)

dashiell and brennan ran around the perimeter of the upper playground (smaller unit, for younger kids), which was fun


afterwards, we headed out to chick-fil-a for some lunch

they BOTH gobbled up their nuggets and fries, and had some ice cream.

too many pictures each, so here's a little collage (very quickly put together...)

6-27-11

after dropping matt off for his camp classes at cc, we stopped off at the playground by cpe for some playtime

(mini-goal for the summer: hit lots of different parks over the summer in the a.m. so the boys can play at a new playground each time...and getting them to play outside at the same time)

so...this is park #1

• location: 5 stars (close to home!)
• fun-factor: 3 stars (sand play-station)

we'll see if i can keep this rating up. hehe

i might also need to amend my ratings once i get to other, better parks!

6-26-11

early playtime at the park before it gets too hot...

matt was hot and sweaty...and wanting to get close to AE!



i made mer 3 t-shirt bags while there =)

(1 per day) greg gave me some shirts to use while there, so i was able to make the 3rd one

custom-colors chosen by mer =p

...and she requested a pocket in them too!