Almost exactly two years ago Caden and I started a tradition of going on donut picnics. It was something both cheap and special that we could do together on a morning with nothing else going on. That first year we went fairly often and then kind of forgot about it. Today I decided that we really needed a pick-me-up (it’s been a rough few weeks) and it was time to start the tradition up again.
In celebration of another day of fantastic spring weather we decided it was worth going to Beaver Dam’s Swan City Park – the biggest and best park in the area. Shepard definitely enjoyed his first donut picnic where he could actually participate in the eating!
It was great doing something a little more special to make Caden happy. We’ve been clashing a lot lately and really needed a morning away from our regular routines.
Somebody was definitely enjoying his donut!
It was pretty cold on the picnic, but we decided to walk over to the playground for awhile. We were all excited to see that the ducks are already in the pond! Next time we’ll definitely remember to bring bread to feed them.
This was Shepard’s first time walking around an outdoor playground on his own and let me tell you, he was loving it! It was amazing what a different approach he had than Caden at that age. Whereas Caden was terrified of even a speck of sand on him until this past fall, Shepard very happily (and literally) dived right in.
The entire time we were there Shepard was running full speed and laughing in excitement. It was adorable to watch. 🙂
Trying out the baby swings. He still insists that I only push him “little bit.”
Shepard was pretty fascinated with watching the ground underneath him.
Driving the fire engine. As a child I remember thinking this was one of the coolest playground toys ever. Can’t believe it’s still around!
After about an hour of playing (and much protest from Shepard), we walked across the park to the bigger kid playground.
Last summer when we came to this playground Caden would only go down these slides if someone went down next to him and/or caught him at the bottom. Today he ran right up and straight to the tallest slide!
Shepard, who apparently has no fear, also wanted to go down the slides. I couldn’t figure out how to stop him from going up the steps without just holding him the whole time, so I figured why not? It was a little more challenging since my only option for catching him was to stick Caden at the bottom. But it worked out pretty well. He only fell on his head once and after two seconds of crying jumped up and ran right back to do it again.
It was a great first donut picnic of the year! I’m looking forward to many more this spring and summer. Though I think I’m definitely going to have my work cut out for me at the playgrounds. There’s going to be no sitting around and relaxing on the bench for me this year!
