parks and recreation

i'm pretty sure i can count on ONE hand the number of times i went to a public park growing up. i vaguely remember stopping at a park on a road trip to eat our lunch {the one time we didn't use our lovely red and white checkered hospital pillows instead}. okay, that might be it. i can't remember another time.

my friends out here and i were talking about this one day. we never remember going to the park as little kids and we had no idea why.

um...because we had backyards!

well, since we will never come close to owing enough california real estate to include living quarters AND grass, we go to the park! a lot. it's a necessity to get out of our 1000 sq. foot apartment and enjoy the great outdoors. and we can even do it in january.

leah is getting better and better at navigating the playground. we sit, we explore, we climb, we slide, we swing, we sip, we play.
today, leah learned how to drink from a drinking fountain. in the past she just splashed her hands in, but today she took a sip. and was pleasantly surprised. so she took another. and another. i think i was holding her at the fountain for about 10 minutes. i even took this picture while holding and waiting. that's talent.leah's new favorite is walking this great expanse. she is completely content just wandering on her own and doesn't want to turn around to come back. if she reaches the end, she turns to the left or right and comes back maybe 10 feet...and then goes to the end again. sometimes we play ring around the rosies in the field...that girl is a giggle box.and both grandmas will be happy to know that, even though we don't have our own garden, and therefore, no weeds, we are still teaching her to pull her own weight. the girl is a green thumb waiting to happen.we ALWAYS wear our park pants {no reason to ruin perfectly good clothes}.and then we eat our apples on the walk home.