Even though we've had a hard time managing our schedule, we've still had several fun outings over the past week.
The only adventure I was able to take the triplets on last week was to a new park. I intended on taking them to Discovery Place Kids, but the museum was randomly closed for "staff training". I took them to the park across the street for the first time. There wasn't much they could do, but I'm sure they enjoyed the different scenery.
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Amelia has been showing off her skills by independently using walking and riding toys.
Jackson utilized the flowers as impressive hiding spots.
I allowed James to play in the car like a big boy. It's both exciting and challenging to give the babies more freedom.
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On Monday we met up with a few of my mom friends and Jack's friends at the local mall. Jackson played with his friends while the trio took over the kids area. All three are at the stage where they have mastered climbing up slides and stairs, but need help getting safely down. This wouldn't be so challenging if there was only one child, but trying to run in three different directions when they are each on different slides is a bit exhausting. At one point there were four adults stationed at four different toys to help supervise.
Apparently I wasn't the only exhausted one.
I was taking pictures with my phone, which is horrible at capturing moving images. Maddie was a busy blur in every picture I took of her!
We can never leave the mall without stopping by Bass Pro Shop to check out the fish. Jack and his buddies held hands while walking around the mall. Jackson was proud to lead his friends to the aquarium and the bears.
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Monday afternoon we took advantage of open gym at the rec center. This is the easiest place to supervise the kids because there is one enormous gymnasium with four walls and a door that's kept closed. The rec center provides developmentally appropriate toys from 1-5 years old. The bleachers are pushed in so there is nothing for the kids to hurt themselves on or get into trouble.
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I was able to squeeze in a quick trip to the park with the trio on Tuesday. Thankfully we were the only people there because the three climbed up every open slide in the park. Maddie stayed in the lead most of the time. Once they reached the top of the slide I picked them up one by and one and put them back on the ground. (This particular park has way too many open areas where the babies could go diving off.) It became a game to repeat this process several times.
Amelia, aka the daredevil of the group, was too fast at one point and took off for a tunnel. You can't tell in the picture, but this is five feet off the ground and connects to another playground. Thankfully she did not crawl through the entire tunnel.
James created his own version of sliding by climbing to the top and letting go so he could slide down on his stomach. This entertained him for quite some time!
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While I try to avoid shopping with everyone, I needed to take all four for a "quick run to Walmart" to buy a few baking items. Four different people stopped me to ask, "What aisle did you find them?" Two more people asked if there was a return policy. Again, this is why I try to avoid Walmart with four kids!
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Our next adventure was a last minute baby play date at Discovery Place after preschool. I didn't have time to feed the trio before pick-up, so I packed a very random lunch. They babies happily ate in the grass.
Jackson collected "treasures" (aka feathers, rocks, pine needles, etc). He did a bit of Yankee Doodle role-play with Amelia. She has the silliest expressions.
The babies interacted with my friend's 10 month old girl in the enclosed toddler area. Jackson is allowed to play in the firetruck, vet's office, and climbing area while the babies play. After my friend and her daughter left, we all headed upstairs. Obviously Amelia, James, and Maddie are reaching many physical milestones, but I have just recently noticed their rapid cognitive development. It's really fascinating to watch them process everything. Amelia seems to be the most advanced, but that deserves a post of its own. She was quite intrigued with the lego blocks.
Jackson explored some new areas for the first time. He built the roller coaster and tested it with the ball. I had to really refrain from going into a complicated physics lesson. It definitely made me miss teaching 5th grade science. Still, I loved watching my little guy use trial and error and adapt his structure.
Jackson also enjoyed working on the airline. As many times as we've been to the museum, I never really noticed this area. We go on the plane a lot, but this was the first time we talked about times and places. I wish they had a large world map so I could incorporate geography.
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Today's activity was feeding the ducks and walking around the lake with a friend. I love that Jackson and I have enough mutual mom/child friends that at least one friend is normally available to get together last minute.
This playground was pretty stressful for me to try and monitor the trio. There were tiny crawl spaces and a maze of tunnels. There is no way I could have retrieved them if one of them decided not to come out. The babies were perfectly content with their game of hide and seek. I, on the other hand, was totally uncomfortable and buckled them back in the wagon.
The fountain sprayed a very refreshing mist in this spot. We stood in front of it for a while in an attempt to cool off.
I don't love the fact that I can't tell you the exact times the trio will nap tomorrow or what time we'll eat lunch, but I love that we are still able to explore and have fun.
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