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Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Park days

The weather's been so wonderful lately and we've been itching to go to the beach but have been tied down by other commitments at home. It's times like this when I wish the closest beach was less than an hour away instead of more than two hours away. Anyway, we've still gotten a bit of play time in, despite school and work and soccer and things.

Here are Miriam and Benjamin playing at the playground while Rachel played soccer:








Miriam is determined to learn how to cross the monkey bars before she turns five. And she might just do it, too. She got to the second bar all on her own this day:


Miriam's been begging to go back to the Museum of Life and Science almost daily since Grandma left because the last time we went to the museum with Grandma was saw a sign telling us that the "Into the Mist" exhibit was going to open up the very next weekend!

So Monday morning I told Miriam that we could go to the museum if we could get all our morning chores done. She quickly got started on the dishes but eventually began dawdling again. I urged her to finish and she finally did and then when I asked her to get dressed she said, "But I don't want to! I just want to stay in my pyjamas all day! And what about your Mother's Day necklace? I didn't have time to make one for you yesterday. I want to make one for you now!"

"Miriam, this is why we never leave the house!" I told her.

"It is?" she asked.

"Yes! If you always refuse to get dressed and get moving then all we can ever do is stay home!"

"Oh!" she said, and scurried off to get dressed. Silly girl.

The museum was blissfully empty, as luck would have it. We always like when it isn't very crowded.

Our first stop was the school bus in the parking lot! It was very exciting!


Next up was the rocket ship outside of the museum. Also very exciting.


The kids played with these blocks for a long time. Miriam built a house. They used the curved pieces as rocking horses and surf boards. They used the straight pieces as balance beams. They had a grand old time.





We went to the butterfly house, which is kept at a consistent 80°F with 80% relative humidity and already feels nice and cool compared to the weather we have outside.


The excitement of the day there was that the partridge families (there are two couples) each have a little chick. Partridges are apparently monogamous but they also don't have a terrific lifespan, so...

Anyway, next up was the dinosaur trail, of course:


And finally "Into the Mist!"




I said "Into the Mist" would be our very last stop of the day but we ended up stopping at the bird watching area for a quick snack. We also stopped at the train. But that was it. Sometimes I'm a pushover.

Anyway, here's Benjamin relaxing:



Later that day we went to Rachel's last soccer practice of the season (she's in the yellow shirt, green shorts, holding the ball):


After soccer we came home and got ready for bed:


Benjamin's pyjamas are size 18 months but he can't wear them unless I roll the cuffs of his pants up. Otherwise they extend well below his feet and he trips over them when he walks. The shirt fits alright, I guess, but the pants are huge on him.

Today we made a picnic dinner and took it to the splash pad. It was 91°F today (33°C) and our pool is still not open because "it's too cold in May!" It was like this last year, too, and it drove me crazy. It's driving me equally crazy this year because—newsflash—it's not cold in May.

The pool in Raymond, Alberta, will open June 10th this year. I don't know how warm it will be but I can tell you that last June 10th the high for the day was 62°F (17°C). And this is an outdoor pool, folks.

The pool in Orem, Utah, will open for Memorial Day weekend. I don't know how warm it will be but I can tell you that last Memorial Day the high was 69°F (21°C). And this is also an outdoor pool.

So you can see how it pains me to watch our pool glisten in the sunshine while we play at the park beside it in 70, 80, 90 degree weather, unable to cool ourselves in its water because "it's too cold"for it to be open.

End rant.

So because we still can't use our pool and because we didn't have time to drive to the beach after school today (at least not with enough time to be home for bedtime) we went to the splash pad and had a blast, even though we weren't the only ones to think of this idea (in fact it was quite crowded). It was wonderful to be able to cool off a bit!







Benjamin is "relaxing" after running through the water:








When we loaded in the van to come home, Benjamin looked at his hands, which were covered in sand, and said, "Uh-oh! I'm dirty!" Then everyone laughed at him because we're just not used to hearing him talk. He usually does his best to get by with only grunting/screaming so when he pops out a sentence we're all taken aback. 

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