Well, we finally did it. I put on my walking shoes, got the baby a new pull-up, grabbed the dog and headed to the park! I hear it’s all the rage for families these days. The fresh air and grass and sunshine and all. It’s a pretty huge park, so I drove around for awhile before stopping at one of the larger play areas. Now, this is a new thing for us, so I’ll admit I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been. The Africa like heat had apparently kept all of the other kids inside, because the giant wooden castle thing was empty. As I led us inside to the center my daughter only stared at me as if to ask – “And just what do you expect me to do here? You’ve dragged me OUTSIDE, there’s no air conditioning and this place is dirty!”
Determined to experience the joys of being outside we ventured to the swings for a few minutes of toddler terror before deciding that a walk was in order. So, I took her hand, untangled my idiot puppy from his leash and set out across the green, green grass. We had walked as far as the bar-b-Q / picnic area when Vin Diesel collapsed under a tree. He didn’t pass out exactly, but I think the fresh air was a bit rough on us all. Lord knows my poor lungs were screaming for a cigarette! And his left eye kept doing this weird twitching thing. Stupid air with all it’s oxygen!
Standing there under the tree waiting for Vinny to get back up, Donnella once more stared at me in wonder – “Ok, we’re under a tree. Now what?!”
I reminded her that we are taking a walk in the park as a family because that’s what families do. A moment later we were off again. The next stop the outdoor theater I’d seen on our first drive through. It was kinda cool actually. Huge stone seats looking very Roman. It was there that my darling daughter picked up a rather fat and fuzzy bug, held it up and yelled “DINGO!” before popping it in her mouth and eating it whole!
And, so ended our day at the park. I carried my poof of a puppy the 30 miles back to the car and promised my daughter we’d pick up slurpee’s on the way home.
I just don’t get the whole nature thing. Less than an hour after returning from the park my daughter had what I lovingly refer to as an ass explosion. I blame the park. Frickin’ nature!
