This past Friday we were invited by church friends to go to the Fun Farm at Millstadt Eckert's. Nate and I had been there two years ago to see the pumpkin shooter (it's really amazing how many hundreds of yards they can shoot softball sized pumpkins!); but we had never been there with children. So I took both Lauren and Olivia...and NOW I know why it's best to have parents equal or out-number the children--good grief!
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| The under 1.5 year old crew from church... |
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| With friends that invited us to the Fun Farm |
First, I should've tied a bell on Lauren! Because she's quick, sneaky and just coordinated enough... Not purposefully sneaky, but her curiosity is astronomical and it was quite the adventure trying to keep tabs on her with a 5 week old strapped to my chest (Baby Bjorn). So Lauren wanted to go in a play fort that was two stories high, with two steep ramps and a long tube to crawl through at the top/second story. Now this is where Nate and I would coparent--one would go with Lauren on the play fort, the other would stay on flat ground with the sleeping baby (we all know I'm the parent with the sleeping baby on the ground usually :) But after this event, I'm vowing to take my turns herding Lauren). Well this fort play couldn't happen solo, so baby Olivia and I stomped around, up and down, following our adventurous Lauren...then came the steep ramps on each side of the crawling tube, of which Lauren showed no interest in at all--or so it was for about 5 minutes. Then crafty Lauren took to using the side rails (she's just tall enough-thanks Nate) and accelerated up the steep ramps quicker than I could grab her. So off I went up these 15ft long ramps to stop her from going in the tube--remember, steep down-ramp on the other side of the crawling tube. But athletic baby Lauren was sure spry, and into the tube she went, giggling and heckling me all the way through the tube. So into the tube I go, baby Olivia and all, and thank goodness there were kids coming in the other way to slow baby Lauren's roll; otherwise, who knows if she would've been coordinated enough not to go head-long down the down-ramp. SUPER glad I didn't have to witness any tumbling. Sp on my way down the ramp, with baby Lauren's upper arm firmly in my grasp, I gave myself a pep talk about keeping up with Lauren, meaning I needed to start down-sizing quicker post-baby! And not always be the parent on the ground watchng the sleeper... *dismount soap box/end of pep talk*
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| Reving up to run... |
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| Taking a breather... |
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| Wishing she was tall enough to ride... |
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| Peek-a-boo with mom |
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| Sweet Olivia sleeping away in the Baby Bjorn |
Now for story number two: They have a Mine Shaft Slide at the Fun Farm, which is a rather long tube, buried in the ground and comes out about 30 yards below. Nate and I went on this slide two years ago, and when I told him I sent Lauren down the slide solo, well...let's just say that he was not so impressed with that particular parenting moment of mine. She went down fine, rather quickly at first, then completely stopped about 2/3's the way down. She didn't/wouldn't move, so we had to send another child down to chase her out of the tube...well a child and my girlfriend Kelly had to fish her out...but she really seemed to like the slide and no harm was done. So no harm, no foul?
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| Lauren headed down the tube. It does look pretty steep and long... |
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| Kelly picking up our young riders at the bottom |
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| Lauren telling me it's time to go... |
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