City Kids

My husband was out of town this weekend. On Sunday morning, unable to face the inevitable chaos of both children at church, I took the kids to Suson Park instead. I was hoping that the combination of running, new experiences, and fresh air would wear them out. Then, I schemed, I could do housework on Sunday afternoon while Claire slept and Jake played quietly.

So off we went! We had a blast. We started by walking around the perimeter of two lakes. Well, they were very small lakes or very large ponds. Claire was not thrilled about the walking. She insisted that I carry her. When I protested that she was heavy, she refuted me. "No! I little! You big, I little!" We looked for fish, named various waterfowl, and met a very nice woman with a dog. Jake particularly enjoyed quacking at some ducks. The ducks didn't seem to enjoy that very much at all.

We played on the playground for a long while after that. Jake explored the entire playground while I pushed Claire and Girlbaby on the swings. Girlbaby is taking on an increasingly important role in our lives. She merits her own swing these days. I had a little trouble pushing a 30 pound toddler with one hand and a 10 ounce doll with the other. We're all lucky that Girlbaby's leg got caught in the swing, stopping her from flying into the dirt. That would have been the end of the day right there.

We wrapped up our trip by visiting the "farm." There were several kinds of animals, each with it's own pen/building setup. The children were captivated. We learned the names of all the horses, laughed at the silly goats, and examined the chickens. Several piglets were running around their outside pen. Claire and I stopped to look while Jake ran ahead to their little barn. Seconds later, he reappeared outside with a cartoonish look of astonishment. His eyes were round, his mouth even rounder, and his hair was standing up. Well, his hair habitually stands up but it served to underline his astonishment. "Mom! You've got to come in here! They have a giant pig!" It turns out that Jake thought the piglets were normal adult hogs.

I finally managed to drag Claire away from the floppy headed chicken and head home. As predicted, Claire took a three hour nap and Jake was tired enough to play quietly. I failed to predict how tired I would be, however, and wasn't able to get all of the housework finished. Oh well, fifty years from now, we'll remember the giant pig. I doubt we'll remember the dust bunnies under the beds.