The Yards Park - Round 2 *ding, ding*

The heat and humidity has begun full-force here in the D.C. metro area.  Today while at playgroup, the girls and I were freely and easily sweating just playing on the swings...and since when do swings induce any sort of sweat, especially by the pushee?! The answer is that it does not. Unless it's 86* outside with 61% humidity, and zero shade.  Needless to say that we were wilting like flowers in the midday sun, and most certainly needed a change in activity stat. 

 

Enter our friend Cheryl Kingsford, and her two girls, Hailey and Kate.  Cheryl is 8 1/2 months pregnant and therefore greatly motivated by any opportunity to keep cool in these temperatures (as is any pregnant woman-am I right?!).  I had asked my mom-friends earlier during playgroup if anyone had been to The Yards Park before.  Turns out that no one else had, so I told them about our jaunt down there during Memorial Day weekend and was looking forward to going back soon.  Cheryl then said, "Why don't we go to The Yards Park right now then?"  Why on earth didn't I think of that?!  So we left our wilting-pit of a playground and headed home to suit-up!  Cheryl and the girls met at our house and we drove on down to D.C. proper with little incident (I really need to figure out how to update my maps app on my phone. Stinkin' construction!).  Note to self: just follow the signs to The Navy Yard or the National's Stadium next time, as both are on either side of The Yards Park.

 

 

So we got there about high-noon, the perfect time to go play in some fountains--mom's included!  Then the girls caught sight of the wadding pool below the shooting fountains, complete with waterfall, and it was game on.  They scattered down the stairs like a herd of kittens on a hot-tin roof.  Cheryl was sans-stroller though, so she kept up with them on the "short-cut" route and performed some excellent crowd control on our four tots!

 

 

We then lunched "pool-side", well, technically, sitting on the submerged step in the wadding pool, but it worked out great!  Have I mentioned how much I love that we can play in these water features that most places/cities mark with "no playing" signs?!  Anyway, the kids sat and ate...took of playing with newly made friends...came back and snacked...wadded off again...snacked again...you get the picture.  Cheryl and I sat mid-pool to keep all kids within reach.  It was a great, cool afternoon!  

 

Olivia eating her coveted Pirate's Booty!

 


Olivia is a huge lap-sitting fan. So Cheryl was very sweet and accommodating
to actually hold Olivia, even though her lap was pretty much already taken
by Kingsford Baby #3!

Olivia is hot on Kate's trail, wanting to mimic her every move.

Lauren kept twirling on her hands, "Like a mermaid Moooommm!"

Olivia kept walking on her hands and tilting to her side to get her pigtails wet.

Lauren kept jumping like a frog and encouraging Olivia to follow suit.

Lauren and Kate playing frogs.

 

Olivia showing off that she can hold herself up behind her back, feet straight
out, like she's floating.

Olivia was crazy excited she could touch the bottom with her hands, and still
have her head above water.



One of the many, many snack breaks!

FHE-apalooza!

So we had the Lollapalooza of FHE's yesterday evening.  And when I say that, I mean we had singing, dancing, people running and hiding, people acting just this side of crazy, and even a poop in the bucket (say what?!)!  Everything you'd see at Lollapalooza right?!  Or so I'd imagine.  Nonetheless, what a very crazy afternoon/evening we had...

It all started off with the random poop in the bucket.  I'm telling you all about this because it's a milestone for our sweet Lauren.  Not the way I pictured it, but it is what it is.  So we had multiple (as in like four-five) flash rain storms yesterday.  Enough to keep you from going to the park, but not enough to keep you from your backyard.  So there we were, playing in the back yard.  The girls were playing with their water table and I was whacking down ivy and tree sprouts about 20 feet from our back door.  It went from a spotty sunny afternoon to a torrential down-pour in no less than 10 seconds.  By the time I literally put down the pruning shears and headed to the back door, approximately 5 feet from the water table where the girls were, I was soaked through to the skin.  Since our kitchen is right off the back door and it's tile, I decided I was going to strip the girls down to avoid a mess and slipping hazards if possible.  I took Lauren's clothes and diaper off first, then went to work on disrobing the howling Olivia.  The flash rain storm had her all out of sorts, which I get.  She's 20 months old and not used to the mood swings of mother nature yet.  At any rate, by the time I got her clothes and diaper off, the rain had lightened a little and Olivia had calmed down.  Just then, Lauren runs up to me and says, "Momma, I went poopy!"  What?!  At this point in time I had a flash of the Lysol wipes commercial on the TV, where the little boy makes the same exclamation to his mother; however, he pooped in the tub and not the toilet.  So where on earth did she poop, or did she even really poop?  So I said to Lauren while panning the patio for poop, "Where did you poop sissy?"  She replies with pride, "In my bucket mom!"  Just then I spot the bucket she's motioning to inside her playhouse, where she was sheltering while I was taking Olivia's clothes off.

Lauren's first sit-down poop

The scene of the pooping

Lauren was so proud of not pooping in her diaper.  If only I could've been equally ecstatic.

Nate got home just in time for me to borrow his iPhone to take pictures of the whole scene before we got flash rained on again.  He asked, "Are you really going to take a picture of the poop in the bucket?"  I said, "It's her first non-diaper, sitting position poop.  Of course I am!"  If only he/everyone knew how hard I've tried to persuade Lauren to use the big girl potty, he/everyone would be very understanding of this picture-worthy "progress", however misplaced it was!  Unfortunately I took too long in taking pictures though, so that when I got to taking care of the poop bucket, the humidity had already gotten to the poop and began wreaking.  Oh well, at least Nate was home to give the naked girls a bath while I got dinner on the table.

I love Olivia's many "cheese" faces!

After dinner, but before we had family home evening (FHE) the girls gave us a music moment.  Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  Sure we'll take it as an opening song for FHE!

So for FHE, Nate taught the girls the story about the Miracle of the Gulls that took place in Salt Lake City, 1848.  Story line: swarms of insects (now termed "Mormon crickets") threatened to destroy the crops that would literally sustain life for thousands of pioneers.  However, legions of seagulls appeared to devour the insects, providing a life-saving service for the Mormon pioneers.  That story told, Nate then spread "insects" (teddy grahams, Snicker bits, vanilla puffs) on the floor of the living room and told the girls that they needed to be like the seagulls and eat the insects to help save the pioneers' crops.  It took them a second to get into it; but they did get into it!  Lauren even played through a nose injury sustained while doing a particularly deep and aggressive swoop for a teddy graham.

 

Nose injury just happened

Throbbing nose = sad face

Daddy found his inner seagull too! Much to the girls chagrin!

Olivia let Lauren play the gull role while she played the candy-napper role!



This daddy seagull is so fun to feed!

Sugar rush is kicking in!!!





Then to run the sugar out of the girls before bed time, Nate kicked off a rigorous game of hide-&-seek.  Much to our surprise, Olivia wanted to be "it", and even counted to 10 all by herself!  I was shocked that she could do it without Lauren or one of us talking her through it.  But luckily she did it multiple times, enough for me to actually catch it on video.  So here's Olivia's first time counting to 10, unassisted!  As for understanding how to play hide-&-seek, well, we're going to have to work on it! :0P

Temple Time & Burke Lake Park

Yesterday Nate and I were able to go and do a session for our first time in the Washington D.C. Temple.   Man, what a beautiful temple!  By far the largest temple I've ever been in before.  So large that there were numerous times we were concerned that we were lost or heading in the wrong direction, only to find a temple worker waiting around the next bend in the hallway to direct us.  Regardless of our "waywardness" in the temple itself, it was certainly great to be there to get away from the calamity of life.  To get a refreshed perspective on what's important and feel the love of our Heavenly Father... Mission accomplished! As the spirit at the temple yesterday was overflowing. We Olsen's felt greatly refreshed and more at peace with the happenings of life after leaving the temple.  We are recommitting to get one of us to the temple monthly, even if it means we do so separately.

So where do we head to after this wonderful temple experience?! To pick up the Calamity Twins from our dear friends, the Finnegan's.  Then after a quick lunch and nap time at home, we headed outdoors to "spend" some little people energy (i.e. wear out these Olsen Irish twins!).  What better place to use up some energy than at a new, never experienced before park?!  Some girlfriends from playgroup told me about Burke Lake Park in Burke, Virginia.  Highlights of the park being: a carousel, a train, an ultimate Frisbee course, and a mini-golf course!  After a 25 minute car-ride, these girls were stoked to get out and play...uh, kind of?!

Lauren refused to nap at home when Olivia did,
so she napped on the car ride over. Popsicle stick and all.

Olivia is less than impressed on the car ride.

We bought tickets for the train and carousel as soon as we got there, but apparently we just weren't moving fast enough for these girls.  Olivia picked no less than 15 different seats/train carts to sit in while waiting for the train to leave the station.  She was moving around so much, that she caused Nate and Lauren to lose their seats to oncoming passengers and all four of us ended jammed into a cart meant for two.  Poor Nate's knees took the brunt of Olivia's wild ways. :/

Olivia is searching for her next cart to explore, while Lauren and Daddy say "cheeeeeeese"!

Olivia disembarking the train cart, first of fifty or so times



Olivia found her next cart...for about 10 seconds

Not even Lauren could tame this crazy girl...
Olivia's middle name "Wild" couldn't fit her
any better than right now!

The content passengers before they got seat-jacked while trying to corral Olivia.

After the train ride, we headed directly to the carousel to wait in line.  It appeared that they weren't operating the train/carousel simultaneously, so if we didn't get on this go-round, it might take about 20 minutes until we got another chance. 

What great little girls waiting in line for their turns

Nate rode the carousel with the girls, both of which seemed to enjoy their rides.  Lauren was a bit more hands-in-the-air, whooping out loud impressed.  While sweet Olivia maintained two hands on the pole, binkie firmly in mouth, smiling and swinging her feet.

 


This picture makes them look like they're streaking by at a
high speed, when in fact my iPhone camera just must have
that slow of a shutter speed.

Here you see Olivia trying to go back for seconds. Not a chance with a dad that has a wingspan like that!

After the carousel ride we went to the playground located about 30 yards west of the carousel.  Not a huge play area, but it didn't seem to matter as there were kids-galore.  Lauren and Olivia were captivated by people/kid watching at first, but then they got down and dirty (figuratively and literally) with the mulch/slides/monkey bars.  These two are hilarious in their love for the monkey bars.  They obviously can't do them on their own, but they love it when you hold the bottom of their feet and keep them elevated enough to go from bar-to-bar.  They have the hand work to be good monkeys; however, their wingspan and height need to improve...by about 5-7 years! ;0P

Notice the stick Olivia is clutching.  She went into the forest and
found it herself...then proceeded to walk the play area with it. 
I'm sure she made more than one parent nervous with it, this parent included.

After about 40 minutes in the playground area Lauren was wondering off, looking for some food because she "want breakfast mom!"  Breakfast is what Lauren calls every meal, so we knew she was now hungry for dinner.  Lucky for us, this great park was located only 3.5 miles from Café Rio, where we were able to partake in some delicious sweet pork salads, homemade tortillas, and queso.  Yumm-O!  What a day!

Sunday Funday!

This past Sunday was such a beautiful day, that we just had to get out of the house!  Nate's coworkers had been telling him about Jones Point Park, a park right under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge (I-495/"the beltway" runs across it).  I was a bit skeptical about what we'd find under the bridge of one of the most highly utilized interstates in the country, but hey, no hurt in checking it out.  If it did end up being a great park, then it would be yet another one in our growing repertoire of outdoor play spots. 

The view of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge from the playground at Jones Point Park.

But before we could head out to Jones Point Park, we had to get the girls out of their Sunday clothes and into play clothes.  The girls had other plans.  Like sucking their dad into letting them walk/jog on the treadmill.  That's right folks, my girls' have fun by having some treadmill time! What a GREAT example Nate is to Lauren and Olivia, with his ever-constant working out.  As for mommy, well, ah,...she needs to work on it...work out that is! ;0P

So we finally talked Lauren into putting on some clothes, but only after we whispered sweet nothings about a new park with "big kid" swings.  We had her at swings.

 

So look what we found at Jones Point Park?!  With a backdrop as lush and green as this, you would've never guessed we were about 100 yards away/below the Woodrow Wilson bridge.  To make it even better, there was no noise pollution.  No constant indicator that we were so close to a major thoroughfare.  Brilliant idea City of Alexandria, or whomever is responsible for this park--sheer brilliance!  Quite apparently Olivia thinks it's a great find too!

What a happy little shark-rider!

While at the playground part of the park, we talked to another parent that began to tell us all about Jones Point Park.  There are multiple full-length basketball courts directly under the bridge (and a good game taking place while we were there), multiple cement slabs for kids to ride bikes/scooters/skate boards on, a historic lighthouse complete with history of this area, and lastly, the fishing pier and ever popular banks of the Potomac River.  Again, what a find this place is!

So after Lauren and Olivia played their little hearts out, we grabbed the stroller and took a little walk over to the historic lighthouse.  Between the playground and the lighthouse was some crazy lush vegetation, and a ton of animal life.

Lauren was pretty pumped about the change of scenery, so she ran ahead, quite a ways...

Lauren was super stoked about the lighthouse.  Well, the water pump at the lighthouse anyway.  She kept holding on to the handle and posing for me. 

Nate had to lure her down with questions of the unknown, "What's over here Lauren?!  Should we go check it out?"

Lauren: "Yeah daddy! We go!"

Lauren's attempt to get the wind-swept Pocahontas look.  That's our favorite movie this week BTW.

So we all took off towards the fishing pier, in hopes to catch a glimpse of someone reeling one in.  Unfortunately we didn't get to see the excitement and the fight of the catch, which was surprising with the sheer number of fishermen that were there.  But we did get to see the catch-of-the-day for a man that was getting ready to relocate to another fishing area.  He really did have some nice size fish, one in particular; however, I'm not going to estimate it's weight because I learned early in my childhood I really am not good at it.  Tough to admit, but I tend to always grossly overestimate.  Guess it's a good thing I'm not a carnival worker, manning the weight guessing booth.  I'd probably acquire a lot of black-eyes from offended patrons! ;0P  So I'll just say that his largest fish was approximately the same size as Nate's forearm.

I was impressed.  Lauren was slightly appalled.  Olivia was pretty indifferent.  And Nate quietly stated while walking away, "There's no way I'd eat anything caught out of the Potomac!"  His colleagues, local men for 50+ years, apparently say the same thing.  I guess with them all being engineers for a base that sits directly on the Potomac River banks, they probably know what they are talking about.  Like what ends up in the Potomac River water that they wouldn't want to consume!  Oh well, I'm still going to try and lure my dad out for a visit with promises of fishing.  Catch and release anyone???

Olivia: So Tired!

There isn't really much to this story, other than it was pretty entertaining to find Olivia like this after leaving her literally 15 seconds earlier (to take her lunch and tray into the kitchen). 

We had a busy morning going to Music Makers and Home Depot, but I didn't realize it was so draining that a highchair nap time was in order.

BTW, we took the picture of Olivia and I just three minutes before I came to find my sweet girl had climbed back into her chair and zonked out (I checked the time stamp!).  So I guess you could say that our Olivia can go from 60 to zero in three minutes flat!!!