A little break

Lately I've been dragging the kids along with me to school while my co-teacher and I have been trying to set up the room and get ready for this new little batch of 2nd graders. It's hard to get much done with an inquisitive 3 year old and a baby who likes to be with her mama. And I've felt badly about keeping them cooped up in the air-conditioned classroom during our last few days of summer together. So yesterday, after a quick stop in at school, Henry and Clara and I took a picnic to a new (to us) spot in Highland Park. I had driven by this park a few times when Clara was in the hospital with pneumonia. Even in the middle of January I could tell that it was a park with potential. It reminded me of City Park back home.
You can see that it's full of big old trees. You can also see my sweet picnic containery thing.
This part is designed to look like a pirate ship. The slide was excellent, though short. I don't know who decided that slides should be made out of plastic, but that was a bad decision. I'm glad to see that some people are regaining their sense.
This part was supposed to be a Swiss Family Robinson tree-house type thing. It was much larger than what you can see here. There was also a rowdy pack of bigger boys that I almost hollered at once when they plowed past Henry, but I held my tongue. There was one other cool structure that was wooden and shaped like a giant bulldozer. And there was lots of nice open area too. We will definitely visit this park again.
And now, because Clara was mostly in a backpack while we were at the park, and I therefore didn't get any photos of her.....