Parks vs. Politics

TJ works in politics and, in case you’ve been living under a rock, the elections are coming up and are pretty important.
This means TJ has been working a lot lately, which means we don’t get to see him nearly as much as we want to.
And because its hot and we live in a small apartment, the kids and I tend to get pretty sick of each other by the afternoon.
So when Riker woke up from his nap after only 45 minutes (as opposed to his typical 2+ hour naps), I knew we needed to get out of the house to preserve all of our sanity.
Lucky for us, it was very overcast today and relatively cool.
(Note: “relatively cool” during the summer in AZ is anything under 100 degrees…I think it was around 95 with a slight breeze today!)

We drove down the road to Freestone Park.
I always loved this park as a kid. I have many memories of cruising around on my roller blades, ice blocking down the hills, and feeding the ducks.

Riker was loving the freedom of being able to run around outside.
This boy thrives when he is outside and could care less what the weather is like.

Of course, Olivia’s favorite was the swings.
I think we stuck her in a swing once when she was about 3 or 4 months old, but this was her first TRUE swinging experience.
And by the look on her face, she was in heaven!

And her swinging experience was only improved when she saw her brother swinging right along side her!

Bliss.
The smiles and giggles coming from this little girl made the entire trip worthwhile.

Once he was done swinging, Riker was crawling up and down, over and under, around and through.
He is definitely all boy and loves to see how high he can climb and how far he can jump.
Of course, once his hands are dirty he needs to stop and wipe them off…I just need to teach him that a little dirt won’t hurt!

My favorite part was probably watching Riker run down the hills.
He’d start out pretty fast, realize that he was going too fast, attempt to slow himself down, and inevitably tumble and roll down the hill.
I never felt bad about laughing as he tumbled because he was laughing right along with me.

Being a mom isn’t always the easiest gig.
And until this political season is over, the long long days are left to just me.
Some days, alright MOST days, I look forward to nap times and bed times.
But I am so grateful to get to spend my days with these two adorable kids.
And I’m SO looking forward to more cool days so we can have more adventures at the park!
And I’m so looking forward to the elections being over so we can include TJ in some of our adventures!