Summer in March

The weather in Illinois has been absolutely beautiful the past 10 days. Emily and I have spent a ton of time outside. We have 3 playgrounds within walking distance from our house, and one big playground about a 10 minute drive away. We've created quite the routine for ourselves since we got back from Georgia. Every day we spend the morning snuggling in my bed until Emily gets restless enough to signal to me she's ready for breakfast.

She has taken to our closet for her fit throwing...ie: her signal that she's ready for breakfast.

After breakfast, I do my INSANITY workout while Emily has her art time.

Then we head off to our first playground stop of the day. Emily has gotten so good at climbing all the stairs, going across the bridge and taking herself down the slides. I just stand on the ground and following her around the equipment while she wears herself out. She likes picking the wood chips off the ground and putting them through the holes of the stairs.

On my off days from INSANITY, I go for long walks, after Emily plays. She gets into a trance the whole walk because she's so tired from all her running around like a big girl at the playground.

Then it's nap time, and boy has she slept great ever since the playground has entered her life. After her nap, the first word out of her mouth is "paygound?" She talks about the swing ("ming") and the slide ("side") all day long. So why not go back to the playground? Now that it is light outside for longer, we head back to another playground and let her run around for another hour.

Yesterday was the ultimate playground extravaganza to cap off our week before our day of rest today. We went to the big playground a 10 minute drive away, and Emily was completely in her element. All of her training on the playgrounds by our house really set her up nicely.

She was all over the place, and it was tiring just keeping up with her. There were tons of kids!

She needed a few snack and water breaks. It was HOT outside.

Like clockwork, after playing for over an hour, she paused a little and had to take care of some business (poop). This video is funny. After she slides down the slide (both times) she takes a little poop break.

And last night we went to the beach playground for another hour. I have to say, I am a little playgrounded-out, and am thankful that today is Sunday!

Every night she has to have a bath (I usually give her one every other night). She is a sweaty, sandy, wood-chip mess by the end of every day.

And after bath time she runs out of steam really fast, and has no energy to play with her toys. She just sits by me and requests the "banket".

And then our day is over, and she is completely tuckered.