Sunday happenings

 I wrote this on May 5th (Sunday) but didn't post it...I think because I wanted to upload and add pictures to go along with it.  I still haven't had the chance to do that, so it'll have to be posted sans pictures...Sigh...One of these days I'll get my act together!

...

We had a great outing today to a park I’d never been to before, in fact James was the only one of us who had.  It was Lion’s Park in Port Coquitlam, and I think it could possibly be my new favourite park!  It has a great playground for kids of all ages, it’s right by the Coquitlam River, and there are lots of picnic benches and trees for sitting in the shade.  It was ‘youth week’ apparently so there were bands playing near the skate park a little ways down from where we were, and I liked that they were playing a lot of the music from ‘my era’, such as Weezer, Foo Fighters, etc.  It was a perfect afternoon.

The kids seemed to really enjoy it too.  The babies sat on the picnic blanket and took in all the sights (as well as a container of yogurt!...and some milk)  and were happy to just lounge there and play with a few toys we brought for them.  It was SO hot, as if it were a really hot summer day, which is amazing given the cold spring we’d been having up until a few days ago.  I loved being able to dress the girls for summery weather and not have to worry about extra blankets and sweaters.  Love, love, LOVE that we are at the beginning of the warmer spend-lots-of-time-outdoors months!

I went for a little walk on my own to explore the trails by the river a bit, and took some pictures along the way.  It was so peaceful just standing by the river and watching the water float by.  I loved it. 

Andrew had lots of fun playing on the playground, and even climbed (with a bit of help) to the top of the ‘dragon head’ – made out of giant tires.  Fun times!  And he made a new friend who he played with for a while before it was time to pack up and leave.  Perfect timing, just minutes after I said we should stop somewhere for ice cream on the way home, the ice cream truck pulled up to the park, so the ice cream actually came to us!

I think the only down side to excursions like this is the exhaustion afterwards.  It’s wonderful to get out there and enjoy the sunshine and get lots of fresh air, but you know how after times like that all you want to do is go home and crash for a few hours’ nap?!  We used to do that ‘back in the day’…aka pre-children!  But it’s not an option anymore, we came home and I fed the babies, tidied up, started some laundry, made dinner, cleaned up from dinner, gave the babies’ a bath, fed them again, and on it goes.  I feel like a complete zombie now, but at the same time of course it was worth it!  I just want to sit here for a minute and daydream that I had a long nap after our time in the sun today, that’s all =P

I love that the babies are at a sitting up stage but not yet totally on the move (although Margaret has mastered ‘baby yoga’ – I’ve yet to get a picture but she’s doing the same downward dog type pose that Andrew used to be famous for, and I’m sure she’s going to be crawling soon…)  It actually can be relaxing at the park with them, to some degree, because at least there’s not a whole lot of mischief they can get into, and while of course we have to watch Andrew like a hawk, he can play on his own to some degree.  It’s kind of perfect right now that way, and I love that we have so many more great summer outings like this to come!