Our First Ever Trip To The Playground - SUPER Exciting!!!...

Well we FINALLY did it. We FINALLY took Everly to the playground for the first time ever. You may wonder why we have been so slow with doing it (since she is almost 18 months old) but let me explain - Everly was born in the fall, she didnt start crawling till the following fall and didn't start walking decently until this January. Therefore, its been pretty crappy outside most of the time she has been mobile and personally I am not one of those parents who cart their tiny infant to the park so they can "play" when the infant has no idea whats going on and looks terrified the entire time. I want her to actually be able to "play" in the park and enjoy it. Our church has a "mommy [or anyone else who wants to come] and me" group that started meeting at a park really close to our house on Thursdays. Dave happened to be home between classes and so we decided to take Everly in her radio flyer wagon to the park since the weather was so nice and Everly has shown a LOT of interest in being outside and running around the yard.

The first thing we tried was the swing... but I think a combination of being too far foward in the seat, and Dave's extra strong pushes, made it a bit of a scary ride at first but she still smiled even if it looked like she was terrified and gritting her teeth! Notice the eyes tightly closed as the G-forces take hold of her little body! Finally getting the hang of it enough to open her eyes and look around. We had to teach her how to hold the handles and Dave put her a little further back in the seat which made her tilt less which I think made her more comfortable. Next up was the slide. We started with the smallest one they had that was completely straight. To get things going Dave took her up to the opening, set her down and then he tried to gently push her down it. She wasn't sure what was happening and panicked and by the look on her face I think she thought she was in for a dramatic crash. (She looks so pained doesnt she!??!?! HAHAHAHA)
But all was well and she made it down the slide in one piece. I was too busy "catching" her to take the picture of her at the bottom but rest assured she was smiling. She enjoyed it so much she decided SHE wanted to go on it again. So she began to scale her way to the top: This time when she got to the opening of the slide she decided to do things her way.So she turned around on her stomach like Grandma Johnson taught her to do to go down stairs. She uses this "method" for anything that involves going "down" such as from our big bed to the floor or from inside our house to our deck (even though the "step" is two inches she will get on her stomach and swing her legs over the doorway plate like its ten feet tall... the first time she did it I about DIED from laughter... it was so funny). So down the slide she went on her stomach. She even wiggled herself enough over the top to actually start the slide process herself which suprised me. Dave of couse was at the bottom encouraging her on.And WHOOSH!!! SHE MADE IT!!! Again all smiles and no pain... Then Dad decided if she could handle the little slide so well maybe we should try the bigger tunnel slide which was a little wavy and was a lot taller and covered. So we walked her over to the opening of the big slide. And she gave it a good long hard look... And Daddy tried to talk her into coming down as best he could... But alas she would not come down and Dad needed to manually assist her into the opening... She was happy to come down this one too but looked a lot more panicked when she got to the bottom and her hair was completely static crazy and sticking straight up. We decided that maybe it was a little too fast for her now but we would try it again in the future.

Before we left we decided to hit the swings one more time... I don't know who smiled more... Dad or Everly this time!

This was Everly with the wind blowing on her face as she swung. Such a funny kid and a good first trip to the park!

I just wanted to say I LOVE her in these overalls... she is SO cute in them.