Day 2: Playgrounds and Family Night Supper

Something that the girls enjoyed an extra measure of last week while we were on our trip was playground/ park time. Gamma lives downtown (at least compared to where we live...we are about 12 miles outside of the nearest town). Every morning after breakfast we would load them all up into the Runabout stroller and head out to the nearest park. It was only a few blocks away so we spent several enjoyable mornings there.

They did the usual ..... swinging, climbing, and lots of running. Park freedom was wonderful because it was the middle of the week and school is not out for summer yet, so we basically had the run of the place.
We also walked around downtown a little bit and then attempted lunch at a little ice cream and sandwiches joint. Right on the street, with only one high chair, and four very tired little girls, this did not prove to be a good choice of locations for lunch, and we called it quits before we even ordered our food. Because Ella was the biggest cause for our sudden change of plans, she required a nap on day number 2. Fortunately, I was able to make her take one without too many tears or too much fuss. Again on the second day the little girls happily took their almost 3 hour nap without any fuss at all! Hooray!!
When Ella finally woke up at 4pm we all headed over to the playground at Scott's home church to play. There were other people coming in and out of the play area because they were preparing for the church's weekly Family Night Supper... which we were able to attend with Gamma. Fortunately, one of the people we met on our way into FNS was a teenager named Brittney. She was a very helpful, delightful, young lady, and I'm sure our overall FNS experience would not have been as smooth and enjoyable without her help. As with all new situations, it was a little stressful at first trying to get all set up with 3 high chairs, food served to four little ones at the same time, etc, but the girls did great. Most importantly, I'm sure Gamma had a wonderful time showing off all her little beauties to her church family. After the meal was over the program began which meant time for a little bit of live music.... Maggie, Kate, and Sarah loved it! They all signed for and requested "more" at the end of each song and danced while we were singing. Before the speaker started the children were invited to the children's program, and amazingly enough Ella asked Brittney to take her! I was shocked that she would be interested in going off with other children she didn't know, much less to ask a girl who only an hour earlier had also been a stranger to take her?!?

We decided it was in every one's best interest for us to take our little girls back out to the playground while the rest of the adults heard the speaker. It was already bedtime by this point, but we had to wait on Ella to finish up with the children's program. Thankfully, Brittney stayed around and helped us chase the girls around and push them in the swings.

One thing that I was amazed by on Wednesday was the number of people who mentioned the blog and how much they enjoy reading and keeping up with the girls.... I just assumed Gamma was doing a lot of reading based on my stats counter/visitor locator thingy. I'm glad to be able to keep everyone up to date, but I have to say it makes me a little nervous to realize that I have a whole "other" audience than I originally thought! Perhaps I should do a post sometime with instructions on how easy it is to comment here... just so I know you're reading!!