Squirt Park

This

is

one

way

we

beat

the

HEAT!!

It's a new splash park that Lincoln has and we decided to check it out one day when he had respite for Parker.  We tried telling Alexa it was a splash park but she calls it the "squirt park".  It's perfect for small kids Alexa's age.  It has lots of water and some playground equipment on the sides.  

After splashing for quite awhile, Alexa decided she wanted to go over and play on what she called the "spider web".  There were two boys playing on it and when we walked over the conversation went something like this:

"You're too small to play on this," said one of the boys.

Alexa looked at me, crunched up her eyebrows and said, "I climb the spider web."

"You can try and I will help you,"  I said.

But my little monkey didn't need help. 

She got up about half way and was so proud of herself until...

"I can go all the way to the tippy-top," the little boy proclaimed!  He was quite sure the girl who was "too small" to play on this wouldn't go to the tippy-top.

Well, my little girl likes a challenge and wasn't about to let this little boy tell her what she can and can't do so guess what she did?

"I climb to the tippy-top too" she said excitedly.

So...the boys left.  Good thing they didn't stay to see that Alexa wasn't quite so confident in going down. 

11 Months

My little chubby-cheeked, spiky-haired, smiley, happy, cuddle bug is 11 months old!  I can hardly believe that he's almost  ONE!!!

Dates with Alexa

During the weekdays, the kids and I are usually at home...unless we are at the Doctor.  It's just too tricky to take the kids anywhere by myself in case Parker needs suctioning and up until recently we have been trying very hard not to expose Parker to any public places where germs may be lurking.  So, we stay home and Alexa and I get a little stir crazy sometimes.

To help Alexa get out of the house, burn off some energy, explore new and different things, and spend quality time with Mommy and Daddy, we try to arrange respite for Parker once a week or so so we can spend time with Alexa and go on a "date".

Here are some of the "dates" we took in June...

Mahoney State Park 

 We went for a hike in the woods,

climbed up to the top of the observation tower (Mommy about died), 

Alexa played miniature golf for the very first time,

and then realized golf is not that exciting.

Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo

We love the zoo.  Well, at least Mommy and Alexa love the zoo.  Daddy tries to be a good sport about the whole thing though.  It's nice to live pretty close to one of the country's best zoo's and we picked a great day to go. We didn't have time to see all the animals, but we got to see a lot of them.  I spent all day trying to get Alexa to smile in front of the animals and I wasn't having much luck.  So...these are the best of what I was able to capture that day.

Pioneer's Park 
We always love going to Pioneer's Park because it's a really big park that's fairly close by.  Alexa especially likes the animals that she gets to see.  On this particular day, a whole bunch of geese came up to greet Alexa.  I think they thought she would feed them (which she didn't).  Alexa was feeling adventurous and decided she would try to get close.  One of the geese bobbed it's little head forward and gave out a loud "hiss" sound.  Alexa came running and crying to me for safety.  I just happened to be taking a picture at that very moment....

I think she really had her feelings hurt by that goose and decided she preferred to look at the geese from a distance.

 It didn't take Alexa long to forget about the mean ole' goose before she started having fun once again.  She burned off a lot of energy that day running down the walking paths and going on a scavenger hunt for things in nature. 

It's been fun taking Alexa on dates and I think we are going to start taking Parker on some as well now that the weather is good, it's not cold and flu season, and his suctioning needs have decreased some.  More pictures of our "family dates" to hopefully come soon.