Loving the Park

Yesterday we went to a new park that we hadn't been to before. It is a very interesting park with a lot of different kinds of play sets that I haven't ever seen before - it is definitely geared towards older kids, but it still has a couple of traditional park pieces.

This is the first of the traditional - a smaller slide for the younger ones.

And then there are the traditional swings...



From there, things get more interesting. They have "Pirate Nets" to climb on


A climbing wall


A ridiculously dangerous looking slide (It's a little bit more safe than it looks, but not much). I tried it once and felt like I was going to fall off the whole time. Needless to say, we kept a very close eye on Joshua if he wanted to go on the slide. Whenever I wasn't taking pictures, that is.

There was also a corkscrew that they could climb up on - but it spins as well! Joshua had lots of fun getting dizzy.


And, they had a climbing obstacle course. I think it makes for a really interesting picture :)
Finally, just because it's a great picture, here is Liz & Lydia

So, if anyone is interested in a park date to a really funky park, let us know! It located right here by Epic.

Quote from Joshua

Joshua: Today is a daddy no-work day. Oh yeah! Oh yeah!

Joshua: (Head leaned on my chest) I hear thumpa-thumpa in there...It's a baby!!!!!

Summer Fun!

I simply cannot believe we're past the halfway point in July. For those of us here in the upper Midwest, that means we're on the downside of summer. :(


Have I mentioned that we love Madison even more when the weather is warm--there's just so much to do outside and much of it is very family friendly. In the past few weeks we've enjoyed the farmer's market regularly, gardened often (and actually had our first "crop", snow peas, although the rabbits certainly got more than we did), and enjoyed several events around town.



On Wednesday night we went with our life group to Concerts on the Square, a mid-summer tradition here in Madison, involving the Madison Chamber Orchestra playing live music on the steps of the Capitol building. People either pack a picnic, or purchase food from local vendors set up on-site, spread out blankets on the capitol lawn and enjoy dinner and the music (and in the case of a group with eight kids 3 and under, a lot of child-chasing). This was our first time attending a full concert--the other couple of times we've planned on going it has rained or had too great of a threat of inclement weather, although we did happen on one by accident last summer. We had a blast and so did the kids, and they did surprisingly well for how late they were up past their bedtimes. Joshua enjoyed tearing around chasing a few of his friends and befriended a dog named Moxie, and Lydia played with her toys and her friend, Addie. :) Too cute!

Yesterday we headed out with friends in the morning for Madison's new splash park. It's hard to decide whether the best part is how much Joshua enjoyed it, or the fact that it is free so we can go often! The weather has been hot and muggy here all week, so he had a blast running through the sprinklers and splashing in puddles.

Speaking of Joshua, he's officially been in underwear for the past two weeks and this Sunday, assuming we experience no major relapses, we're declaring him officially potty-trained!!!! We've certainly had a couple of accidents along the way (most notably a nasty one at the park the other day, which I'll spare you the details of, but I'm sure you can imagine if you know anything about the lack of amenities in park bathrooms combined with the stickiness of a certain bodily discharge...ick!) but we've been dry most days and even most nights recently. I'm starting to not be constantly worried when we're out and about, but have definitely re-learned the value of keeping a full set of spare clothes on hand at all times. It's somewhat ironic, potty training has been one of the hardest things I've undertaken as a parent so far, and I've spent a lot of energy working on it over the past 18 months. For all that energy I don't really feel like it got me too far, but when he was ready to do it, it's really gone quite smoothly. As usual the first few times are the hardest, and that first accident in public is daunting, but after that you realize again that it's all just a stage... (I think that should be the mantra of parenting!)

Lydia's sitting on her own now and rolling and scootching wherever she wants to go. Her funniest move is a scootch which she does on her back that looks like the upside-down wiggle-worm crawl. She's decided to put real crawling on hold and focus on pulling-up and cruising instead--so watch out world! She's also eating all sorts of solids now, and it's super fun to watch Joshua get excited with each new thing she tries. :)



I'll try to keep this updated more often, but it seems that life happens way too fast to blog about these days! Have a great weekend.

Glory

Our hearts are mourning today. Late last night James' grandmother, Mimi, passed away after a long battle with ovarian cancer. We're grieving for the hole that is left in our lives and those of the rest of the family, but rejoicing in the life that she lived and the freedom and healing she now finds with Jesus. We'll certainly miss her, but know that we'll see her again someday.

Mimi loved music deeply and I know there were many times through her journey that it brought her comfort and peace. Today the song "Glory" by Selah has been bringing me comfort and it seems fitting to post the lyrics below in her memory as she is now experiencing HIS glory for the first time. Wherever you're at today may the words bring you solace as well that we do "know the end of the story" and grief is only a season.

We love you Mimi!

Glory
One day eyes that are blind will see you clearly
And one day all who deny will finally believe
One day hearts made of stone will break in pieces
And one day chains once unbroken will fall down at your feet
So we wait for that one day come quickly

We want to see your Glory
Every knee falls down before thee
Every tongue offers you praise
With every hand raised
Singing Glory
To you and unto you only
We'll sing Glory to Your name

One day voices that lie will all be silent
One day all that's divided will be whole again
One day death will retreat and wave it's white flag
One day love will defeat the strongest enemy
So we wait for that one day come quickly

We want to see your Glory
Every knee falls down before thee
Every tongue offers you praise
With every hand raised
Singing Glory
To you and unto you only
We'll sing Glory to Your name

We know not the day or the hour
Or the moments in between
But we know the end of the story
When we'll see...

Your Glory
Every knee falls down before thee
Every tongue offers you praise
With every hand raised
Singing Glory
To you and unto you only
We'll sing Glory to Your name