es·ca·pade
noun
an act or incident involving excitement, daring, or adventure. (Google)
Lately I feel like the only thing that makes Lexi, Jack, and Faith happy is getting out of the house, and although there are always errands to run I felt like I needed to do something truly fun for them today. We had been to a nearby park (High Desert for curious locals) a few times and although there is a "big kid" area there, I felt like it was manageable for me to take the kids alone since they have always been content playing in the toddler area. On the way to the park I grabbed Starbucks for myself so that I had an extra energy boost for this endeavor as I knew it might not go as smoothly as the previous times when I've had help. In fact, this would truly be our first time going to a park with just me and the kids so I was prepared for disaster.
Taking three 23-month-olds to a park alone was a bit scary. I couldn't follow three kids around so I had to stand in a strategic place where I could see all three and run to help when necessary. I also kept the wagon nearby so I could quickly load everyone if things got out of hand. The park visit started well as we were the only people at the park and everyone was content playing on the toddler area. The only issue was that all three wanted the blue sand toy that someone else had left there, but it was manageable.
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| Lexi was obsessed with the sand today |
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| Faith climbing up the toddler structure |
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| Faith |
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| Faith on the tame toddler slide |
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| It is a beautiful park in a very nice area of town |
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| Jack taking his turn with the sand toy |
Then they discovered the swings, which was fine except for the fact that everyone wanted in and out, in and out, which is a workout for me.
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| Our skinny kiddos still fit two to a swing, which is convenient as most parks don't have three baby swings |
And then they all started running around which seemed harmless and a great way to burn some energy.
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| Faith in the lead and Lexi close behind. Lexi really huffs and puffs when she runs. |
But then they discovered the big kid play area. There are three slides on this play structure: one short and steep, one steep tunnel, and one twisty slide. Our kids have only been on short, gradual slides so I was a bit nervous about this, but I had the wagon nearby in case I needed to bail and for several minutes I was able to keep everyone on the short, steep slide, which felt manageable since I could monitor them on the steps and then catch them when coming down the slide.
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| The railing is the perfect height for walking up the stairs |
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| Faith ready to go down the short, steep slide |
After going down the short slide many times, Lexi decided to crawl through the tunnel to explore the rest of the structure. The first time through I ran to the other side, climbed up, and went down the twisty slide with her since I told Jack and Faith to stay on the other side (and they actually listened!). But once everyone saw how much fun the twisty slide was, everyone decided to crawl through the tunnel and try it themselves.
I wasn't sure where I should be: on the ground to monitor everyone and catch them at the bottom of the slide, or at the top of the twisty slide? After a few minutes on the bottom and watching Lexi almost eat it since she basically started walking down the twisty slide, I decided being at the top of the slide was the best option as I could still watch everyone plus I could make sure they sat on their bottoms before going down the twisty slide. Also, Jack had gone down the steep tube slide once and it really wasn't safe for our kids since there isn't a good place to sit down before sliding. So being at the top meant I had more control over the situation.
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| Going through the tunnel |
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| Trying to monitor from the bottom: Lexi is at the top of the twisty slide, Jack is climbing up the steps, and Faith is about to climb up the steps |
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| Lexi |
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| Faith |
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| Jack |
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| Jack realizing Lexi was right behind him |
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| Lexi and Jack |
After realizing that everyone was able to safely climb up the structure, through the tunnel, over to the slide, and slide down by themselves, I started feeling really proud of them! They are definitely acting like two-year-olds in many ways (like saying no, having strong opinions, etc.) but this two-year-old likeness made me really happy and excited for our park visits in the future. And although Lexi put up a short fight when it was time to go, overall everyone was very cooperative as I think they were pretty tired after climbing on the big kid structure for over 20 minutes.
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| Bye-bye big kid structure. See you again soon! |
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