My Instead: My friend Annette and I took my grandkids on a “park crawl”.
My “every other Tuesday” was here once again. It was my turn to
watch my grandchildren Abbey and Andy while their mom Shaundra went to work.
This time, however, I would have my grandson Tyler and his “frother” (friend
and brother) Danny along too. It was the last week before school was to start
and we were all going to make the most of it. Originally, I had planned to take
them to Splash City, a local water park, but the weather was a bit on the
chilly side for that. I decided (for everyone) that we would spend the day
doing a “park crawl” (visiting various parks in the area).
My friend Annette and I loaded up my Honda with every kind of
outside toy we could scavenge in my garage…baseball gloves, a bat, hula-hoops,
scooters, Frisbees, a football, etc. There was no room for boredom in the back
of my car. My CRV somehow converted to a BUS as we tooled along to pick up the
kids at two different households.
We arrived at our first park of the day, Three Springs Park in Shiloh,
Illinois, and met my sister Karen and her two boys Connor and Aidan. All the
activities available at this park made us feel like we were visiting 5 or 6
parks at one time! We enjoyed the playground; then were off to the baseball
diamond where we older kids got to have some fun; then shot some hoops at the
basketball court; then savored the sand with some volleyball and sand castles;
then topped it all off with hula-hoops and Frisbees.
Karen and the boys had to take off because of previously-made
commitments, but the rest of us were eager to “crawl” to our next park, Schranz Memorial Park. This park,
just off Route 159 in Swansea, had a “splash pad”. It was a bit chilly for
water play, but the male of the species didn’t seem to notice their goose bumps as they executed some typical splash antics. Abbey was
amused just being the audience.
After Annette and I
provided towels for the boys to dry off, we all headed to our next point of exploration…the amazing Swansea Kingdom Playground, which stood across the
parking lot from the splash pad. The kids (young and
old) climbed in, on and around all the various nooks and crannies this
playground had to offer. Little 2-year-old Andy had no problem keeping up with
the big kids, but I was beginning to wonder if Annette could keep up with him!
At the end of our busy
day, I asked which activity did each of them like the best. Danny shouted resounding
approval for the Swansea Kingdom Playground. I think they all agreed that we had
saved the best for last. My favorite part was living in the moment with these
amazing people who will carry on long after I am gone and they will do just
fine…but today…I got to “carry on” with them.
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