Back in the beginning of the COVID outbreak, all the local playgrounds closed and we’ve generally steered away from them ever since. The neighborhood playgrounds have opened back up, but out of abundance of caution, we haven’t really brought it up with the kids. They weren’t asking, so we kind of just steered clear.
But Saturday was a really nice day, and the kids and Asta clearly needed some fresh air and activity, so I thought we’d try to take a walk over to one of the playgrounds. I told them that we were going to see about it, but if there were big crowds we’d probably have to save it for another time.
The two main playgrounds in our neighborhood have been dubbed “the red park” and “the blue park” by the kids. In normal times, it can be a tough choice deciding which one to play at. Kind of like the red and blue pill choice Neo faces in The Matrix, except choosing the red park doesn’t end with everyone waking up in a big vat of goo.
In this case, that tough choice didn’t really have to get made because both parks had quite a few people playing in and around them, so we insteaded opted to check out the playground behind Amelia’s school. We don’t go to that one quite as often, and now I’m wondering why because it is really nice. We headed that way and found it completely devoid of people, so we had our run of the place. The kids got right to climbing and frolicking.
I ran around with Asta a little bit to get some energy out of her, and we all had a nice time playing. It was pretty obvious that we were all pretty out of practice with this “playing at the park” thing, because after about 25 minutes, Asta was panting away and the kids were even starting to slow down a little. We all concluded together that we were a little hot and thirsty, so I suggested we head back home and was shocked to get no arguments of “can we stay longer?” and “I don’t want to go yet!” I’ll take it.
That was about it for Saturday highlights, really. After a big trip last week and lots of running around, it was very nice to have a relatively low key day. I capped off the day playing Barbies with Amelia and Henry. I said it in a previous post and I’ll say it again, that new Barbie camper Amelia got is a great toy. The kids are probably getting as much entertainment out of this thing than I’ve seen them get out of any non-electronic toy. Kudos, Mattel! We stand impressed.
