2013 Summer Fun

One of the toughest things with moving to a new place is making friends. Last fall, one of the girls in the ward named Jen and I decided that we should start a Facebook Playgroup page. I had been part of one in our previous ward and it was awesome. We talked about it a million times saying, "Yeah, we should totally do it!" But it never happened. Until recently. 

Ryan was giving me a hard time about it (being all talk and no action) so I finally set the page up. I will admit that my hesitation was mostly that though I feel like I am a good people person and get along with just about anyone, I have a hard time being the one to set things up. I'm not a great initiator. But I stepped out of my comfort zone and went for it. 

So far, the group activities have mostly been dates at the park with fairly limited participation, but it's a start. Jen and I are also hoping to get a Girl's Night, Date Night, or Game Night going. We had our first Game Night a few weeks ago and it was a total blast. 

Anyway, so below are some pictures of a few of the things we have done this summer. 

Edness Kimball Wilkins State Park:

I went out with a group last summer, and to be frank, it sucked. It was really hot, there was no shade, and Pierscen was too young to care. (He was just learning to push himself up onto his knees.) So I was hesitant to go this time, but hey - I can't complain about not having friends if I don't make an effort.
 

This trip totally changed my mind! My friend Leslie set this play date up and she knew what she was talking about. The weather and water were perfect! We found a shady spot and Pierscen LOVED it!

I had no idea there were fish in the pond and I couldn't figure out why Leslie and her kids were throwing food in the water. Then I noticed the swarms of tiny fish attacking the bread they were tossing in. It was awesome! We also spotted a crawdad. (I almost stepped on it. Kind of freaked me out, but it was really cool at the same time.)

Honestly I think this was one of my favorite play dates. Most of the people that said they were coming backed out (not uncommon) but they way we see it - it was their loss!

I will definitely be making more trips out there in the future. It was totally worth it.

The pictures below have nothing to do with a play date. P and I had just finished a shopping trip and I had rewarded him with some yogurt covered pretzels. It was an awesome idea... until we got in the hot car and this happened:

But I couldn't resist snapping some pictures. Look at those gorgeous eyes!

Another great activity we had was actually the Elder's Quorum Party. We had a pot luck dinner, played volleyball (which I have no talent for other than serving underhand) and the kids had a blast playing in the bounce house and running around at the playground. It was so much fun!

One awesome thing that has come out of our playgroup page is that P and I met a new friend at the park. It just so happened that the first playgroup I set up was at Washington Park. There we met a little girl named Heidi. Her mom was 36 weeks pregnant with twin boys. At first I wondered if someone else had invited her to the group (friend of a friend) but it turned out she just liked going to the park early in the morning too. So I invited her to the group and we met up at the park most mornings and let the two little ones run around together. The twin boys have since been born (though she kept coming to the park up until about 39 weeks) and P had his first play date over at Heidi's house a week or so ago. It was really great! You never know when you will meet a new friend.

The page has been a hit and a miss for us. Some weeks have been good, others have been a total loss. But we are trying. One of the ladies I invited to the page was from our last ward. She has a group of her own that is geared toward preschool age kids, but anyone is invited. We have joined that group too and I think we will get to do some great things with that one. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago we went with them to the Green Acres Corn Maze. It was a blast! But that will be a post in and of itself just because of all the pictures. :)

To end with... here is another non play date related picture. P is, unfortunately, in that phase where the toilet is really cool. I caught him multiple times trying to fill up Dodger's water bowl with water from the toilet. I stopped him each time and finally filled it up from the sink. I thought P was just trying to be nice for his hairy brother, but no... turns out he was just thirsty himself.

I am sure grateful I didn't let him fill up with the toilet water! Sigh... they say you learn a lot from those around you. I guess that applies to animals too. ;)