Summer at the Park

Since it rained to the point of FLOOD WARNINGS on Saturday, we put off going to the park until Sunday. And because we weren’t driving eighteen miles to go to the park I’d promised we’d hit this past weekend (I’m lucky the girls are so understanding about RAIN and fifty degree weather not being ideal park weather) we instead headed four miles into town and went to a more local park.

And it was the best decision EVER. Well, at least as far as Lyss is concerned.

There were several little league baseball games going on when we arrived at the park. Lyss had already called her friend S, who lives in town and was meeting us there.

Olivia was happy to climb and slide, climb and slide and climb and slide until she realized that Lyss and S had gone walking. Olivia asked if we could follow them. I told her that we were going to give Alyssa some privacy with her friend for a bit then we’d go find them. This satisfied her enough to get her to play on some of the other structures for a while.

While Liv played and I followed her (because I’m a hovering hoverer, it’s what I do) A and S made their way around the park, where they came across another friend who was there to watch her little brother play baseball.

We climbed and the girls slide and swung and played tetherball. I made Olivia go back to the structure made for smaller kids in an effort to give Lyss some time with her friends again. The friend group had grown to five girls from school.

Olivia was happy to go to the smaller structure because no one was there. She very much prefers to play on things where there are no other kids. She’s…a loner…an introvert…weird? Take your pick but she’s not a fan of gregarious kids coming up to her and trying to take her hand as she climbs the stairs to go down the slide. She’ll tug her hand free every single time and come sit by me, glaring at the intruder who dared to try and befriend her. Sigh. We’re working on this both at home and at school.

By the time I pulled Alyssa from her friend group and we made our way home, it felt like a very productive day at the park.