Beautifully Exhausting, Part 2

When I left off on my last post, we were headed back home after soccer, and I purposely chilled out for a bit to decide how we were going to spend the rest of our day--and figure out how much energy I could summon to do it after so many busy days!  I had promised a playground and his choice of dinner since it was just the two of us, but I wanted to be as strategic as possible with the time we had since it's rare to have a whole chunk of a day unscheduled and unencumbered by gluten restrictions or trying to find something four people can agree on.  I wanted to get in a good playground if we could!  I've realized that maybe I'm trying to cram these playgrounds in because I know his time enjoying them--at least to this degree--is probably limited.  He'll turn nine over the winter, and the more he grows the harder it will be to enjoy slides (aka ankle breakers to the taller set) and some of the smaller equipment, or even find kids his own age.  It could be that his absolute love of playgrounds won't last long enough to hit up all the awesome ones, but we're definitely going to try!  

I finally determined we should try a two (or three)-for-one trip out to Webster.  I figured that if we were driving a full half hour, we might as well get in two new playgrounds!  The first was Jack's Place, which was built in memory of a little boy that died in a terrible lawn mower accident about five years ago.  It's actually the second one his foundation has built.  It's dinosaur-themed, including a fossil dig area with rubber mulch, because he loved dinosaurs.  There was also a free library and a seed distribution box at the entrance.  It was a very sweet place surrounded by the town park and Lake Ontario in the distance.

While the playground was cool (and busy!), it wasn't really my favorite since the play structure itself was built in a way where it was hard for adults to get around.  While there were bridges or other areas that were easy to walk through, almost every spot to climb within the structure, and almost every external access point (at the top of slides or where you could climb in) had short, square openings that were almost impossible for adults to contort themselves through.

Carter checked it out and explored all the equipment.

This is his "Dizzy Doer", which he does all the time--and does to other friends, too!  He will twist the swing up as much as he can, and then let it go!  He thinks it's hilarious that he looks a little "drunk" when he comes off legitimately dizzy...and this time he actually fell!

Since I didn't fit well on the playground, he eventually spent a lot of time playing with other kids.  He found a tag buddy or two, and also spent a lot of time on this crazy spinner!  This was a bigger one than most we've seen, and even had a climbing web at the level of that metal band halfway up.  There were kids everywhere on it at times, on all levels--even outside at the top!

I took a really short video snippet to document the craziness.  I feel weird getting other people's kids in my pictures but this just had to be seen and I figured the quick video would make it harder to identify anyone.

We ended up leaving despite the fun because Carter had to go to the bathroom, but we were unsuccessful in finding one in the immediate area.  It was surrounded by the giant town park but everything in sight was pavilions occupied by parties, and I felt weird trying to see if there were bathrooms there.  I actually had a plan for a little detour before our next stop, and I wondered if maybe there would be something there, so we drove less than a quarter mile down the road to a parking lot with a great view of the lake.  Sure enough, there was a port-a-potty there!  Score!  

 

After he was done we took a walk out to the pier.  It was a beautiful night and there were a lot of people fishing.  It was such a cute little area that I never knew existed.  Next to the lot along the path to the lake there was this sweet little creek full of ducks!

Looking out toward the lake

Carter really liked this very old, very dead white tree trunk...

On the little bridge looking back toward the ducks...such a scenic little spot!

The view was really pretty and the skies were gorgeous yet again.  There was a bit of a breeze and in one spot the water was splashing up pretty good on shore.

This was the view in the other direction.  The evening sun highlighted it beautifully.  If you went another 35 miles in that direction, you'd hit Chimney Bluffs, which we visited a couple months ago.

We walked out to the end of the pier, but I didn't take a picture of the end just because there were so many fishermen in the way!  We watched one next to us for a minute or two to see if he caught anything (and ducked every time he cast his line), but no luck.  So we took a selfie instead!

As we walked back, Carter was intrigued by these flat rocks along the path as he hopped along them.  The water had apparently washed up between them at some point.  He was also intrigued by the amount of seaweed along the path.

There was a little area where the rocks jutted out into the water and the creek flowed through on its way out to the lake.  Carter enjoyed tossing pebbles in from there and trying to block the flow from the creek.

After getting our fill of the lake, and since dinner was approaching, we headed to playground #2, the Karpus Family Playground.  The first thing we noticed were these crazy orbs!  They spun and rocked, and Carter loved it!

At one point I made the questionable decision to get in one because I wanted to see how much you could control the movement from inside.  It wasn't my best move because Carter definitely gave me a ride!  I could feel it for the rest of the evening.  My head just does NOT like spinning anymore.

The playground had a lot of the same features as other accessible playgrounds we've been to lately, including a glider and merry-go-round.  This one had a lot of ramps and this odd but intriguing wide slide.  I did see a couple girls position themselves so they could both go down at the same time, but I'm not sure if there's another purpose for it.  Climbing up without blocking others, maybe?

There was a littler kid section and it had this cool flipping activity with two different sets of beads and some sort of bubbling liquid that funneled down when flipped.  Right across from it was a spinning circle with balls in it, and there was a "shelf" inside that had a couple holes, so when you spun the center pivot, it would pick up the balls on the shelf and then you could tilt it to make the balls drop back through.  Those were different than I'd seen before.

This little slide was surprisingly steep--it took Carter a couple tries to climb--and the blue one next to it was a roller slide!

We had a lot of fun exploring, and once again he ran off and played some tag.  We also spent time on the swings where Carter spun himself dizzy again!  The sun had set by then, and eventually I ordered our dinner on my phone and gave him a countdown for when we'd have to leave, drive home, and pick it up.  We very much enjoyed our Domino's dinner (he loves it so much!) and settled in to watch a movie.  I somehow convinced him to watch "A League of Their Own" with me, in honor of Geena Davis being in town that day for the UR commencement.  I don't think he was thrilled by it, but there were parts that made him laugh (the long pee scene and Stillwell's antics were probably the favorites) and he seemed intrigued that it was based on something that actually happened.  The big boys got home about 2/3 through the movie, but we still finished it up and wrapped up our fun evening.  I love giving him time like this because he's spent so much time having to tag along on everything we do, from Jacob's games to errands, so for him to run the show a bit more is always nice.  He loves his playgrounds and needs to burn off that energy.  It was a very good day.

Sunday ended up a bit lower key because of the rain that moved in (now on day three--ugh).  I made Chex Mix and pumpkin muffins, switched around some seasonal clothes, brought out the Halloween decorations, and ran a couple errands.  Luckily we now have two four day weeks in a row, courtesy of the kids' four day weekend (which I am taking vacation to do as well--much needed).  But in the middle of that is going to be a huge transition, which I'll write more about in my next post!