Springtime at Fred Fletcher Park

We had a fun, busy day today!  The kids were active early, playing piano (okay, that’s a charitable way to view it–mostly vying for position on the bench, trying to not get caught shoving each other!)  We heard one of them start singing the classic “Lollipop” song by the Chordettes (1958)–soon enough, both of them were singing it at top volume.  We asked if they’d heard the original, and, long story short, we ended up watching a whole pile of black-and-white 1950’s classic music performances on YouTube.  We had to explain why they weren’t in color. 😉

We celebrated the lovely spring day by visiting Fred Fletcher park, one of the really nice inside-the-beltline parks here in Raleigh.  When Brandon and I were considering moving here from Chapel Hill, we aspired to live in this area.  It was out of our price range then, and probably forever..!  But we can visit the park.  🙂  The kids enjoyed seeing the tulips and tulip trees, and Brian randomly tried to make a gravel-angel on one of the paths–ouch!  Not sure he’ll re-try that experiment. 😉  The kids really loved running around the stone circle, we weren’t sure we’d even make it over to the playground, they liked it so much!  Eventually, we did make it to the playground, and both kids loved the ride-on toys and sand digging toys.  The swings were also a good time.  We took a chocolate milk break, and then played a little soccer on the big field (we being Brandon and Brian!)  Brian spotted some Stormtrooper stickers on one of the goals from easily 100 paces–he is a Star Wars seeking machine!  Too soon, it was time to head out to Brian’s skating lessons, but we discovered a slope just covered in violets as we were leaving–that was a fun and lessened the pain of leaving the park a bit.

We took Kendall along to watch Brian’s skating lesson, thinking she’d enjoy seeing big brother on the ice–wow, what a miscalculation that was. 🙁  She screamed the entire lesson, “I want my skating!”  She was so jealous, she wanted to skate, too, and considered it the worst sort of injustice that she isn’t allowed to try until she’s three.  Clearly, all the screaming caused us a bit of brain damage, because we then did the unthinkable–taking both kids to the toy store. 😉  Nah, it was a pretty good time–the new Toys’R’Us in North Raleigh is quite nice, and we found a lot of things to put on our wish lists.  Some highlights include a foam sword/shield set, a Lego lap desk, and a set of cute suitcases.  (edited to add:  four months later, we’ve gradually collected all of those items!)   

After the toy store, we were all famished, and decided to take the kids to IHOP.  They were cool with the idea (as you can tell by the wild dance party in front of the sign!)  Brian got his favorite Create-A-Face pancake, and Kendall got her favorite Funny Face pancake.  I’ll be sad if she stops choosing that one–it’s a chocolate pancake with chocolate chips, and, not gonna lie–I enjoy snagging some bites of it for my dessert! 😀  We wrapped up the day with bathtime and their new character washcloths from the toy store (impulse buys at the register!  At least it wasn’t candy.)  🙂