Baby A and Baby B: December 2011

As the days have gotten shorter and colder, I've been fighting a determined case of cabin fever. I was getting dangerously close to exhausting my let's-have-fun-inside-time skills (I can only play "find the babies in the blanket fort" so many times before I'm checking the calendar, hoping the discover that it's March, not just December!), when my mailbox delivered my salvation:

The Si View Parks and Recreation Winter Guide.

Not only was it chock full of classes and lessons for ages 1 on up, but there, on page 6, in a tiny advertisement, was my golden ticket to toddler fun land...The SnoValley Indoor Playground. Hallelujah! Running 3 days a week, for 2 hours, for ONE DOLLAR per child (yes folks, $1...that's practically free!), the SnoValley Indoor Playground is apparently where all the smart (and warm) parents have been hanging out with their children. Maybe this explains why I almost always have the "real" park to myself!

Armed with the fact that the girls both walk well, hold my hands, and (sometimes) listen to my instructions, and the knowledge that one more morning inside or worse, at the freezing park, might kill me, I packed them up on Monday and went to check it out. You can imagine my disappointment when there was a sign on the door (which of course I didn't see until AFTER I had unloaded the bubba's and corralled them towards the entrance) announcing that the playground was closed that day due to lack of volunteers. SOB!!! (Mental note - must sign up for a volunteer shift!) I settled for a walk around the community center to look at the crows, which they always love, and took encouragment from the many, many other mom's I saw trying to take their little ones to the playground. It definitely wasn't closed for lack of attendance!

So today, we tried again, and this time...SUCCESS! This place was AMAZING - Due to it's existence, I'm pretty sure I don't ever have to buy bikes, little people cars, slides, or anything else of the sort....they're all there, and in abundance. Avery was like a kid in a candy store - aiming straight for the bikes. If you didn't know any better, you'd think she actually knows how to ride :) Lauren was a little slower to be adventurous, but eventually found her groove (in the form of a slide - she's addicted!). There were probably 50 + kids, from 0-5, all having a blast, and my little girls right in the thick of it.

It's mornings like this that make me so incredibly thankful for my babies. If they're this much fun already, I can't wait to see what the years to come hold for us!

A little peek at the fun we had (the last picture is Avery, Miss Independent, waaaay across the room from me!):

So the girls are ALL about exploration and investigation these days, especially when the weather allows a park trip. The monsoon last week created a temporary pond at our favorite park, and a family of ducks has taken up residence there, much to the bubbas delight. They're also figuring out up and down (thanks to the teeter-totter), checking out water drips (thanks to the drippy roof on the park shed), and feeling lots of fuzzy green moss (courtesy of the trees and rocks).

Even when we're faced with an inside-all-dayer, they still find plenty to keep them interested. One of their favorite rainy day activities is the blanket fort game - nothing beats crawling into a dark fort and being "found" :-)

I love seeing the world through their eyes!