Park Fun

Our weekend of adventure continued today with a trip to Dennis the Menace Park in Monterey. We love this park, there's a ton of stuff for the kids to do - various equipment, tunnels, maze, rock wall, swings, etc - and it's a half block from the ocean.

The park is even more fun now that the kids are a little older, because they can have conversations like this one with other kids at the park...

Boy: Hi, would you like to be the Mickey on my pirate ship?
Penelope: Yeah! (giggle)
Boy: (yells into one of those cone things)
P: (giggle) Mommy, he's cute
B: Come on, let's go!
(they run around for a bit)
P: Mommy, this is my friend. What's his name?
Me: I dunno, why don't you ask him?
P: Hi friend, what's your name?
B: Finnegan. F-I-N-N-E-G-A-N.
P: My name is PenELooooPEA
Finnegan: Come on, let's climb up. You ring the bell when I yell, ok?
P: Ok!
(a bit later - they've been playing for about a half an hour)
F: (twisting his shirt) You should come and visit me Penelope. You can come out to North Carolina. For like, three days. If your mommy says it's ok.
P: Ok! Mommy, can I?
M: Uh, we'll talk about it.
(even later, they've played on every piece of playground equipment - Poe is towing Griffin around and Finnegan is towing his younger sister around... they're swinging)
F's Mom: Time to go Finnegan...
F: Ok, bye Penelope. I'll miss you!
P: Ok, bye!

A day at the park

Today was a lovely day, especially for early March. So after picking up Thing 1 & Thing 2 from my parent's house we headed out to McKinley park (our favorite!) and had a lot of fun...


Griffin playing in the bark


Griffin *eating* the bark


Want a kiss??


More bark! (he really, really enjoyed his time in the bark)


Love my Bubs!


Griffin and Daddy


Playing around with Woody


He's coming to get you!


Very silly siblings


Playing chase

Ready...


BOO!



So very silly


Helping out...

In non-picture related news, tooth #8 isn't in yet, but it will be soon.

Jessie

If you've ever seen Toy Story 2 or 3 then you know who Jessie is. I think I've already detailed how much Penelope loves the Toy Story movies so today's events should not be at all surprising.

First off, I have to give a huge public thank you to my parents. Every Friday night they take the kids for the night so Bryan and I can have a date and get some sleep. Last night we went out to dinner, watched Mad Men, and played Rock Band (oh yes, we're geeks). We then slept in, until 8. It was glorious. And while I missed our morning routine, I did not miss the 1am, 3am, and 5am wake ups. Although Griffin slept well for them (brat).

Anyway, we picked up the kids this morning and took them to one of the many parks in Sac. I forgot the name, but it's downtown by where they have the Farmer's Market. It's "space" themed and has a large play structure for the older kids and the younger kids. It's actually a really great park - I think we might have G's birthday there.

We're one of the first families to arrive and have the run of the park for awhile. While running around, Penelope finds a 2" plastic Jessie doll. Probably from some Happy Meal. There aren't many kids around and Bryan said it was sitting there for awhile, so odds are some kid dropped it the day before.

Poe is instantly in love.

She walks around with the toy and they play together. There's a dual slide, Penny sits on one side and she holds Jessie on the other side and they slide down together... hilarious. I have video and I will try and upload it tonight.

Penelope also puts Jessie in this cup/ride thing that twirls around and proceeds to twirl her around. You know those boards with the holes, where you stick your head through and you're a character of some sort? Well this park had an astronaut one and Penelope stuck Jessie through it so she could be an astronaut.

She would also say things like "Jessie's having fun!" or "Jessie's happy!". When we got home it was "Jessie's lunchtime too!"

Jessie took a bath with Penelope today. And she also accompanied her to bed.

I think we need to get Poe a slightly larger version.

Holy Crap my kids are cute

Seriously.

Don't believe me? Here's proof:


Pen in her new hat, matching gloves, new jacket, and Hello Kitty backpack - ready to head to the park


Griffin after his first ride down the slide.


"Woah, that was cool"


The kids swinging


Penny loves to swing!


So does Griffin!


Playing in the leaves


G with his buddy Gus

Penelope's admirer

Tonight we went out to pizza to celebrate Bryan's birthday (which is tomorrow, 2/1). At the pizza parlor they had an area with little kids toys, which was wonderful and kept P pretty entertained the whole time we were there.

Not long after we got our pizzas, a family walked in with a 2 year old boy (who was only about 2 inches taller than Pen). Anyway, the two of them played rather well together - they would hand each other toys and did a lot of sharing. No one yelled, hit, or made a fuss - score. After Pen was done playing she'd head back towards us (our tables were right next to the play area) and demand to be held. At one point the little boy came over while she was on Bryan's lap and said "down" - as in "hey you, put my friend down so we can play again!" He did this quite a few times, to the amusement of our entire table and the slight embarrassment of his parents. We thought it was hilarious. At one point Bryan said something to the effect of "man, I already have to beat them off with a stick!"

This little boy really wanted Penny to play, and Penny was indifferent at that point (she was also exhausted, as we'd had a super full day and she hadn't napped very well).

It was cute.

Earlier that day Grace and I took Penny to a park down by Grace's house and I took a few pictures, so here's so Pen park pics (say that three times fast!)









And because I love this picture, here she is with her Uncle Nic a few days ago: