Parks & Recreation

We've been so busy lately that I have a lot to catch up on. I'll be posting lots of photos this week. Not necessarily in chronological order though. But everything's from the past two weeks, so shouldn't be too big of a deal. Today's theme? Parks & recreation, duh! But first, I need to vent a little...

Last week SUCKED. I mean sucked! I mean if I could imagine a week where just nothing went right & one thing after the other went wrong, that would be last week. It was quite surely the worst week I've had at work since I started at this company, over 3 years ago. And on top of that, Abby was a crabby patty and a half! Oh and what else could be worse than bad work week & cranky baby to come home to? Let's see...how about we add an irritable husband, PMS, a fall down the stairs, no workouts at the gym, a fall at the park, and last, but not least, a 3rd-degree burn on my thumb. Oh wait, don't forget the cherry on top...the world's worst paper cut. No seriously, it was a brutal papercut, because it didn't come from paper, it came from the edge of a fruit cup. Such a tiny injury, yet so incredibly painful! On the opposite thumb, which leaves me with 2 bad thumbs and an incredibly sore/beat up back. Ok, yeah so I'm being slightly dramatic. But it really was the suckiest week that has ever sucked. I'm so glad it's over!!!!!

What does all that have to do with parks & recreation, you ask? Hang on! I'm getting there...sheesh! Well, since Abby was a crab apple, I wasn't in the mood to entertain her, and we actually had some decent weather in Seattle last week, we went to the park no less than 4 times! Abby and I have toured the parks in our area. We tried out a park down the street from daycare, which had 2 bullies who pushed Abby out of the way, so that they could go down the slide first. Mmmhmm...brats!! Then, we went to the park in our little neighborhood, and finally we discovered a really wonderful park on the lake by our house, which we went to twice. That was the park I fell at, but to be fair, I was wearing heels. My bad! Now I've learned my lesson and keep an emergency pair of tennies in my car.

Abby really enjoys the park! She is really starting to be independent, and able to climb up onto things, go down slides by herself, etc. Her most favorite things are slides and swings. But she also loves to just run around in the grass, or explore the park without the assistance of her mommy. Here's some select photos of our several park visits:

She really hates wearing hats, but she cooperated this one day. This was the park where the much older kids were running around like maniacs & pushing Abby out of the way. Their mom was yelling at them constantly to "be nice" but they paid her no attention. I try really hard not to let things like that bother me, thinking I don't know how I'd handle that situation until I get there...but I did think she should have taken them home, or at least put them in a time out. I mean seriously? Pushing a 15 month old who is barely able to walk out of the way on a play structure? NOT OK! Abby didn't mind too much . We just went to a different area & let them take over the slides.




Abby really loves to just run in open grassy fields!



She abruptly stopped from an all-out sprint to explore this pinecone.



She is overly confident in her climbing abilities. We really have to watch her closely!





She was SOOO proud that she walked up this big hill at the park, by herself (well with Brandon behind her to catch her if/when she lost her balance)

So the parks were a nice distraction from the lame week last week. Friday I was soooo looking forward to having a nice end to a really rough week. Brandon & I decided to make our V-day dinner Friday, that way I wouldn't have to cook & he wouldn't have to clean. How romantic! It turned out my bad week wasn't quite over. Abigail was a complete BRAT! And I never call her that! But she was. She did not want to sit in the highchair, she didn't want to sit in a booster seat, she wanted to eat crayons, then she wanted to be in my lap, then she wanted to run all around the restaurant. She let all these wants be known by screaming & throwing tantrums! I toured her around the restaurant while we waited on our food. She got really angry with me that I wouldn't let her go into the kitchen! Then finally food arrived. I got about 2 bites of pizza, sat her in my lap to eat her spaghetti, because my lap was the only place she would sit without screaming. She did like the spaghetti, but it was messy & when she decided she'd had enough, she turned her head & wiped her entire red-sauced face onto my chest. That was it. I was done. We asked for boxes and the check. Brandon took pitty on me and toured Abby around the restaurant some more while I waited on the check. At which time I received several sympathetic comments from the diners around us. And when the waitress brought the check she said, "Enjoy that bottle of wine tonight!" And I took her advice! Put Abby to bed as soon as we got home, heated up the now cold pizza and enjoyed 2 large glasses of wine!

Brandon & I are somewhat terrified of what Friday night means for our future dining out experiences. I think it means an end to dining out for dinner. It's just too close to bedtime. Of course she was an angel on Saturday. And we fed her the spaghetti leftovers, which she slirped up most of it, and then threw the remains on the floor, threw her hands up & pronounced, "All done!" That's the magic of children - they can be so incredibly frustrating, yet they're so cute while doing it that you don't get mad.



See this? It's about to be on the floor. Lucky for you, you have hardwoods!



What? I didn't do anything. I have a halo above my head!