A Water Table & Another Park Playdate!

Woah, it has been a long week since Saturday!  I meant to blog sooner, but my husband has been using the computer with the photos on it for writing his final papers for school this week, so I haven't really had a chance to blog.  Sunday we had Mass - Pentecost! - and Johnny actually did pretty good for most of it, but there is still room for improvement.  We're slowly working with Johnny to get to a point where we can all sit together during Mass, with no one having to leave and Johnny being able to sit quietly and play with toys or eat snacks or whatever.  We're not there yet, but it seems like we're moving in the right direction.  There was a while there where he wouldn't sit through any of the Mass and it was difficult for us to get anything out of going to Mass because the focus was on Johnny's behavior.  If you could keep us in your prayers while we try to work through this, that would be much appreciated. :)  

On Monday I went to Target to buy a water table for Johnny because they were having an awesome sale on them.  Tia was the one who let me know that they were - thanks again! :)  I have been wanting to get Johnny a water table for our porch because we live on the third floor of an apartment building and have no room on our patio for a kiddie pool (plus that doesn't really seem safe) and we don't have a yard for a kiddie pool or a sprinkler.  Our apartment complex does have a pool, but I have to be willing to go in the pool with Johnny to use it or on really hot days it is already full of a lot the young people who live in these apartment buildings.  We have still yet to use the pool here, but I'm sure we will use it before the summer is over.  The water table just seemed like a great way for Johnny to get to play with water and cool off on the really hot days on our patio where I can keep an eye on him but not have to get wet myself.  Also we don't have to leave our apartment if we don't want and there is shade on our patio.  Unfortunately, on Monday it was super windy.  60 mph winds.  On our way to Target and to go grocery shopping, we encountered a fallen tree in the middle of a major arterial road (had to take a detour) and Johnny was even blown over by the wind in the parking lot of Target (I was holding his hand at the time, but he was still knocked down)!  Poor kid is afraid of the wind now and I don't blame him. 

 It was super windy (but hot) on both Monday and Tuesday this week, so we weren't able to use the water table at all.  I felt bad that I kept promising to play with the water table as soon as the wind stopped and the wind never stopped.  Yesterday (Wednesday) the winds were just as bad, but there was also a lot of other weather mishaps in the Denver area.  There were strong winds, tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, severe hailstorms (the hail was the size of baseballs to begin with and some areas got 2 feet of hail), and crazy weather.  Except that it was still really warm outside too.  It was actually pretty scary because my friends who live north of Denver were in the areas where the tornadoes were and where the really severe hailstorms were.  We only got thunderstorms near us and some of the lightning and thunder shook the glass patio doors on our apartment and were so loud I swear it happened right near us.  As far as I know no one was hurt from the weather yesterday, but there were plenty of cars that looked like basketballs because they were covered in dents, people digging out their driveways from hail, broken windows and roofs, injured livestock, etc.  One of the tornadoes (there were at least two) took out a farmer's garage north of Denver and crumpled it up and left it several hundred yards away from his house.  It was crazy crazy weather.  Then by the evening it was calm and no more weird weather.  I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the weather here. So unpredictable and always flitting from extreme to extreme.

Last night John was busy writing a paper for one of his classes that was due today (next week is his last week of school for the year) and Johnny and I couldn't go outside or anything because there were still storm warnings.  I finally got tired of having to wait to use the water table, so I set it up in the bathroom and let Johnny play with it.  He had a lot of fun, but that was a big mistake.  Water everywhere!  Johnny splashed like crazy and even tried to drink the water out of the table (ewww) and then mommy got to have fun soaking up water off of the floors and wiping it off of the walls when he was done.  This will definitely be an outside toy from now on.  That's what I get for trying to be a nice mama. 

 Today it was crazy hot and humid.  Yesterday we got hail, today it was 90 degrees with tons of sun and humid.  Craziness.  Johnny and I had a picnic & park playdate today with some of my friends and their kids at a new park though, so we ventured out into the heat.  The park is brand new and had its grand opening last week.  It is in Westminster (about 25 minutes from us; northwest of Denver) and it is Neverland/Peter Pan themed.  It is a really awesome park with big rock play equipment and other play equipment plus water toys.  The only problem is that the big rock equipment is really really tall (you can't even see the kids when they are on the top of it), the railings aren't all the way around, and when they go down the slides, they fly off of them and fly ten feet in front of the slide (thank goodness the park is made of the bouncy rubber stuff so it doesn't hurt).  Also, the water toys weren't on today at the park, even though it was really really hot.  All the kids were rosy-cheeked and dragging within a few minutes of playing and even though they were guzzling water, they were overheated.  Us moms were too.  So what did the kids do?  They jumped into this little fountain that isn't meant for swimming, much to our dismay.  Johnny went crazy and threw the biggest tantrum when I dragged him out of it and wouldn't just sit there and splash his little feet in it.  Fighting with him to not go in it and to change his clothes (because he jumped in with his regular clothes) exhausted me even more and I was already exhausted from the heat.  I think it exhausted Johnny too because as soon as I got him dressed and walked him back over to the play equipment to play, he just wanted to hold my hand and looked really tired.  He started waving "bye" to all of our friends and then trying to get me to walk to the car, so we made our exit.  We were there for an hour and a half, so that was plenty of time to play, but probably a little too much when it was that hot outside.

The kids ran off to play on the steps while we were eating our picnic lunch.  We had to run after them a minute after this because they all started running up the grass hill towards the road. 

See the punk in the orange & yellow shirt?  He was bullying Johnny in this picture.  Johnny went inside this log to play and when I went to check on him I saw this kid holding Johnny up against the side and not letting him go and Johnny was crying.  I couldn't get to him from this end, so I went around to the side and looked in one of the holes...

When I looked in the hole this punk kid was pushing Johnny up against the wall and hurting his arm and wouldn't let him go.  I was looking in one of the holes and yelling at the kid to let him go and had to pull Johnny out of the kid's grasp.  That was when I took this picture, because I wanted to find the kid's parents and show them what a bully he was being.  Unfortunately I don't think he was there with his parents. Grrr.  Johnny was sobbing so hard and the kids on either side wouldn't let him out that I just grabbed him and pulled him through one of the little holes in the side (I'm so glad he was small enough where I could do that!).  It is hard to look at this picture for me and I am still livid that this happened.  I hate bullies and this kid is lucky his parents weren't there, because things would have gone down.  He was clearly old enough to know better - I would guess at least eight or nine.  Punk.  And his little smirk makes me even angrier.

This picture doesn't do this justice...the top of the rocks and the top of the slide were at least a few feet above my head, so you honestly couldn't see your kids at the top unless they were in front of the slide or they were really tall (so little kids you couldn't see at all until they appeared at one of the three slides on random sides of this).  This thing caused much stress for me.

The crocodile from Peter Pan! :)

Later on Johnny wanted to go back in the tunnel, but I stood at the end and kept an eye on the punk who was still in there.  When Johnny first crawled in there, I heard him yell, "Get out of here, we don't want little kids in here!".  Then I leaned down and he saw me and my mama bear look and shut up.  And I'll tell you what, if he even tried to do anything again I would have paddled his little butt, and I don't care if that is wrong.

Inside the Peter Pan treehouse.

Johnny and Lauren

Brayden & Johnny.  When Johnny got down he yelled "Ta da!" with his hands outstretched, and then Brayden did the same thing when he came down too. Adorable! :)

Lauren :)

Johnny & Lauren

Lucas :)

I love this picture of Johnny & Brayden. :)

Johnny & Lauren 

Brayden trying to balance

He wanted to reach up and grab the telescope that was too high for him

Adorable little Parker!

Jenny helping Lauren down 

Lucas

Johnny banging on drums

Finally! The log tunnel to himself!  No punk boys! Yay! :)

When Johnny jumped into the fountain that he wasn't supposed to...

But it felt soooo good in all that heat!  I wish they had the water toys on so they didn't have to resort to jumping in the fountain.

Apparently Johnny is a leader, because the other kids followed suit

Oops!

Once I was finally able to wrangle him out of the fountain, he kept trying to get in, so I had to hold him by his shirt to let him dangle his feet but keep him from getting in.

He wasn't happy that I was keeping him from the fountain.

Prestyn didn't want out of the fountain either.

He was mad because I had to change him into his swim clothes (he got his regular clothes soaked) but it didn't mean he could swim in the fountain.  He was also very tired and overheated.

Counting the rock climbing footholds before we left the park. He loves to count.  He counts to ten, but usually skips the number 8 for some reason. :)

 So, it was a really awesome new park, but the rock equipment makes me uneasy, and would have been better if I had John with me to try and keep an eye on Johnny.  The way everything was set up there, your kid would turn a corner around one of the rocks or something or disappear into the really big rock center thing and you would be frantically searching for them and have no idea where they were or couldn't see them at the top of the rocks.  It was a little bit too much stress for me.  Either John goes with us or Johnny will have to be a little older to play there, because I almost had ten heart attacks in the span of an hour and a half.  It would have also been wonderful if they had turned the water toys on, considering it was 90 degrees and the park was packed.  But the playdate was fun and now Johnny and I are home and are exhausted from playing and from the heat.  I forgot to put sunscreen on right away again and got a really bad sunburn.  I thought that I had put it on soon enough after getting there that I avoided one, but now that I'm home, I'm red as a lobster on my shoulders and face. Ouch.

It's even brighter red now. :(

While it has been since Saturday since I blogged, we have still had a crazy week.  John still has more papers and finals to go through next week, so he'll be pretty busy studying and writing through the weekend.  Luckily, Johnny and I won't be alone because a friend of mine from high school - Heather - is coming to visit us this weekend in Denver!  I haven't seen her since my wedding (4 year ago this July!), but I'm really excited to catch up. :)  She is currently stationed in Clovis, New Mexico with the Air Force and is driving up to Denver for the weekend/Memorial Day holiday.  There are a few free festivals and events going on this weekend in the Denver and Boulder areas, so I'm sure we'll be taking advantage of them.  Then next week John finishes his classes for the school year and starts his summer break.  Our vacation will start rather soon because that Friday we're driving to Boulder City, Nevada (the city where Hoover Dam is, roughly 30 minutes or so from Las Vegas) to visit John's family and attend his middle brother's high school graduation.  We'll be there for the weekend.  I'm definitely not looking forward to the heat there this time of year, but I'm looking forward to going hiking with John and Johnny in Red Rock Canyon while we're there.  John is excited to see his family.  His grandparents will be flying there from Oregon too and I'm excited to see them, since it has been over a year since we have seen them! :)  We have a busy week and a half ahead of us, but I'm sure I'll try and keep you all updated with photos and such.

Here are some photos from this afternoon after our trip to the park -Johnny loves to read. :)  Enjoy!:

That is my new little craft area in the background - I plan to post photos soon. :)