May 31, 2009

Here are three that we took after dinner tonight -- don't mind the somber look on Suki's face, she'd been dancing on the wall and beaming at everyone a moment before, talking about how it was a party where everyone was invited. I don't think she appreciated me asking her to pose for a moment, though. Kate's hair is a wreck because she's got a way of pulling out her clip and trying to eat it! So we're a little messy, a little bedraggled looking but we were all so happy and it was the perfect end to our fantastic weekend.

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Today we went to a new-to-us playground at the local elementary school.

My smoochable Kate.

We started off on the part of the playground intended for the littlest children, the 0-2 section.

In a baby swing.

Kate loved this wheel.

Practicing her walking.

Then it was off to the second section, for the 2-5 year olds. Here are Grace and Suki on the see saw -- this was their first time on one!

They had so much fun.

Kate can do so much more on the playground now.

Cheerful on the slide.

Grace is always looking for a bar to swing from now.

Suki always likes to do what Grace is doing.

Down the steps.

David explains to Suki why it's a bad idea to drink the water collected at the bottom of the slide.

Kate on the horse.

Back to splashing in the water on the slide.

Kate tries to steal David's hat.

Happy with it on her own head.

Pulling it on for herself.

Reaching through the fence.

Suki loves to climb up a slide.

On the little bridge.

Chasing each other across.

Kate longs to climb up a slide the way her sisters can.

I loved this double slide -- it allowed Grace to slide down while Kate safely played at the bottom.

Then it was Suki's turn.

I love seeing these guys together.

Kate looks on as her sisters get ready for their next turn.

David decided to give Kate her own turn.

Oh, she loved it.

Then Grace wanted to go try the big kids section of the playground, for the 5-12 year olds. I took her and left the camera behind with David, Suki and Kate but I wish I hadn't. She was so brave and I was so good about leaving her to do her own thing. I sat on a bench with my friend Renee and Grace experimented with a swaying rubber walkway, first crawling on it and finally running back and forth. Then she wanted to hang from a bar and I stood with my hands hovering over her ribs just in case she wanted to drop down. And then she wanted to use the monkey bars and so we used all three sets, with me supporting her as she moved her hands from bar to bar. She had a blast.

Then Renee's girls, Allison and Erin helped her on the swings.

Here are some bonus pictures David took on his cell phone while we were wandering around.