2014 Tour de Parque

I had this brilliant idea...one I am already regretting. You ever have an idea like that? An idea for something fun, something you know the kids will enjoy, and you know it will be a challenge to pull off, but you know it will be worth it, so you jump in with both feet, and then like 10 minutes into it you think, "Ummmm.....why was this going to be fun again?" Yep, like that.

So, my brilliant idea is our 2014 Tour de Parque. No, that's not a real thing. At least, not until now. If you google it, nothing will come up. I don't think. Maybe my blog will, after I publish this. But my Tour de Parque idea started when Tess was complaining one day that we never go to any "fun parks". And it's true. We don't make any regular homeschool group park days. With Jack's therapy and our full school days and our other activities, it is all we can do to visit our neighborhood park anymore. And there's nothing wrong with our neighborhood park. But they remembered other parks, parks not so close to our house, that we rarely visited anymore. So, since we are still on Easter break this week, my brilliant idea was to visit a different park every day. A park not close to our house. A fun park.

Sounds good, right? Well, just to clarify the obvious, this idea means that *every day I have to leave the house*. Not just to run Jack to therapy, or run Maria up the road for something, but pack a diaper bag and a meal (or at least snacks) and dress all five kids down to their shoes and put them in the van and drive somewhere every single day for a week. And, of course, even though we are not doing school this week, we still have our usual activities of therapy/PE class/dance/piano/PSR/grocery shopping/baseball/mass. So.

This was the first day. Monday. Johnson Park. One of my favorite parks on this weeks list because it is FENCED IN. Why, oh why, aren't more parks fenced in?? This park is very near Tess' dance class. When Maria took dance a couple of years ago, we visited here every week. I would bring the little kids here while she was at class. But now, one big person drives just Tess down here for class each week, so we rarely go. But Tess asks to go *every time* we drive by. So here we are. Well, everyone but Mary Claire, who was napping with Dad at home.

Pluses--the fence, of course. Big pavillion with sidewalks suitable for chalk drawing. Basketball court for big kids. This bench swing that we are all enamored with.

Minuses- poor drainage. It had been raining earlier in the day and large puddles were still under most of the swings. My kids immediately soaked their feet. Of course. If you look waaaay off in the distance, you can see Henry, ankle deep in water puddled around a tether ball. Sigh.


Also, no bathrooms. Why, oh why, would you want a park with no bathrooms?


So, we came here Monday evening on the way to dance class, after the rain but before dark, and the kids were happy. They are thrilled with our little adventure.


So I guess it's worth it.


How hard can one week be, right?