evening at the park

Last night Scott had band practice promptly at 5:30 so I decided to take Vin to McDonalds so we wouldn't be in the throws of the band practice. Then Vin and I decided to take the food to the park instead. We had lots of fun at Van Dorn park. Vin drank a bottle of chocolate milk, a few fries, a few bites of hamburger, and chicken nuggets. Not the healthiest but I do what I can do. I will work harder on nutrition.

We sat on the ground by a tree by the highway on the late August browned grass. There was a strong warm breeze that threatened to blow our McDonalds wrappers away. Vin had never really had a picnic before and seemed to be enthused. He remembered falling off a picnic table 2 weeks ago and injuring is arm so the table was not and option. He enjoyed watching ants crawling all over the tree we were next to and didn't seem to pay much attention to the food as usual. He was concerned when the hamburger wrapper blew away and I went to chase it. I knew I needed to set a good example as far as not littering in the park.

When Vin finally decided he was done with the food after about 10 minutes, we got up to walk around. My goal was to distract him from the slide. With his broken arm it would not be good for him to climb up although that was his absolute favorite part of the park. One of the only parts as well. Slides seem to be the major attraction to most kids. Has we headed over to the equipment area of the park Vin was distracted by a big patch of dirt and said outloud "dirt". I didn't know exactly what we could do with it but I just like to help Vin explore. It was a big hard patch of dirt from some construction work that had been done earlier that summer. I found a few sticks and tried to stick them in or dig with them. Vin got interested as well. We sat down by a tree next to the dirt. Then I noticed the crispy locust shells all around the tree. I excitedly showed them to Vin. He and i are amazed by all types of animals and bugs. I am always excited to show them to Vin. His enthusiasm and awe are so contagious to me. At first he was a little weirded out by the locust. I tried to explain that they were dead and fell from the trees. I used their little claws to hook one to my shirt. Vin smashed it with a stick. I told him that "he saved me". Vin kept repeating it "Me saved you". WE did it several times. Then I stuck a locust on Vin and he did the same thing. He ended up touching the locust shell. I like exposing Vin to new things, especially nature.

Then he noticed the slide again, I had to distract him by getting him to go with me to the bathroom. he is always intrigued by this outdoor bathroom as we walk past. He remembered where it was and was eager to guide me to it. He went inside with me while I peed. There was and slight echo inside the cement building and Vin noticed. Somehow he started thinking of one of his favorite animals - a fox. Maybe he thought one might sneek in or appear beings we were in a wooded area. He got a little scared and ran to my legs. Very cute. I reassured him we would be okay and there were probably be no foxes.

I had to deterr him from the slide once again. I actually had to pick him up and take him away. He loves the slide so much and we have spent so much time on that slide. Poor little guy, I tried to explain to him that when his arm got better he could go back on the slide. It might not be until October but Im sure well get in some good slide time then.

I remembered we had sidewalk chalk in the car and thought it would be fun to use it in the park. I mentioned it to Vin and he liked the idea. We made our way slowly back to the car. I got out the container of chalk and he carried it. He want to go back to the equipment area so we slowly walked down the path. I convinced him on a certain area of the cement path to sit down and draw. I really like drawing with chalk as well, it is soothing and creative. I try not to out shine Vin's scribbles and lines and to include him in my drawings. He really likes to draw and first mentioned drawing a farm. Then we worked on a couple houses and a truck. HE got up and hopped on the drawings seeming like Lynn had taught him about hop scotch. It was really nice to be in the park. We were all alone and the late summer noises were all around us. It was getting close to 7pm and the day was cooling off. Although the park is by the highway, its a large park with lots of trees and some farmland to the side. Its very pleasant there.

Towards the end of our evening at the park, as I was trying to coax Vin to the car, I pretended to hide behind a tree (as my father always did). Vin thought it was great fun and we spent several minutes going around one treeing "Booing" each other. The more surprised I acted the more fun he had. Then we went to another tree and did the same. Vin talked about "seek" as I'm sure Lynn has tried to get the kids to play "Hide and Seek". I got Vin to go to another tree and another. He said "Me like that tree" I was so proud of him! I told him there were a bunch of trees. He found pine cones and repeated the word bunch, he said "bunch of cones". Again I was proud of him.

To his father and I, Vin is absolutely the most precious, loving little boy in the world. It is a miracle that he came from us.