If you can't beat it, join it!

It is so hot here. We are pushing 90° and while I am thrilled that we aren't drowning in the typical Midwestern drab and dreary, I guess I don't want to walk around the house sticky either.  We do have the air on, but we aren't at icebox temps yet and I don't suspect Tim plans to get me there either.  At any rate, since I can't beat the weather, I thought I'd take the kids to the park for a picnic and play time to wear them down for naps.

This is most of the park that we went to today.  The little kid's area is off to the right but my kids tend to stick to the big stuff.  There is a school that uses this park as their playground I guess, so there were lots of big kids running around but that didn't stop Titus or Micah. 

The rule that the school gives to its kids is for no more than 5 kids on the merry-go-round but Titus stayed on practically the full hour we were there, not including when we actually ate.  The kids got tired of him being on there and finally declared that "the little kid doesn't count."

Micah is a fairly brave kid.  She likes to climb and do what the big kids do and doesn't typically let the fact that she really is too small for things stop her from doing them.  Like this ladder thing.  She climbed it great, though she did get scared a little bit on the last 2 rungs (her confident stride started to wane), but the sweet, tender and compassionate mommy-of-the-year that I am, I made her finish the job-all by herself-and when she did, she was a happy little girl!

Now Micah doesn't typically do this, which is why there is a picture, but as she was running around the play set, she saw that I had my camera and she courteously stopped to strike a pose and send a cheesy little grin my way.  What a beautiful little girl we have!

Titus said that he wanted to "sleep down the slide" so this is what that looks like.  Of course.  Imagine the sound effects and you are right there with us.

This is a retarded picture but in the last few minutes of my camera's battery life and only enough memory space for one more shot (double whammy), I wanted to get the two of them on this teeter totter wanna be.  Titus will only ham it up and by about the 5th photo of him with his eyes shut tight and some goofy face I finally got him to look at the camera (perhaps with a little persuasion) but then Micah's eyes were shut.  Doggone it.  Camera batteries can only handle taking a shot and then erasing it because it is terrible so many times before they die altogether.  This is the shot we were left with.  Humphf.

Oh, and to give a tid bit of personality for my little 2 1⁄2 year old, a bigger kid around 7 or so was sitting on this teeter totter impostor and asked if she wanted to get on with him.  She said to me, "I don't want that boy.  He's not your fwend. He's not my fwend."  OK then, I guess that's a "no" kid.  Sorry.  I understand she meant he's basically a stranger, but she certainly has a way of putting things and clearly she was NOT having any of that boy and that teeter totter sham.  Yes, I like REAL teeter totters.  What is childhood without at least once getting your feet or ankles slammed under one of those, or biting your tongue because the other kid teetered too hard, or hurting your rear end because you tottered too hard?  They sure know how to take the fun out of playground equipment!  LOL!