Perfect Playground Day..........

We were blessed again with another beautiful weekend, so we figured, what could be better than hitting the playground?! We are lucky enough to live in a town that has many playgrounds to choose from. Since it was so gorgeous out, we decided to walk to the one closest to our home.

On the way there, we spotted a woman walking a dog who looked exactly like our Duffy! The girls started walking ahead of us at warp speed to make sure that our beloved pooch had not been dog-napped! Sure enough, it wasn't our Duffy, but I think they freaked the poor lady out by trailing behind her so closely! ;)


We arrived at our destination and everyone headed off in different directions to enjoy their favorite activity. Ryan loves the swings, Miss Mackie loves the slide, and Miss Kelsey really loves the monkey bars; hell, she would swing from those damn bars all day long if we let her!

So anyway, it's really amazing to watch Ryan on the swings now. It makes me grin from ear to ear, and here's why - It was a long, and sometimes sad journey to get to this point. He had always loved being in a baby swing, we would spend hours enjoying our Little Tyk*s swing that hung from our front tree when he was an infant.

But as he got older, and bigger, we knew it was time for him to go on "big kid swings". What comes naturally to "typical" kids, (the pumping up of the legs, and pushing back instinct) was a foreign concept to Ryan. My mom, Mark and I spent many hours showing him exactly what he needed to do to get that swing a'swingin'! But he just didn't get it at first which made us a little sad.

Finally, as with everything else, and like I always say on this blog.....one day, it just clicked for him. And Holy Moly, did that kid start SWINGING! Now I have to always tell him to slow down, because he swings so high, it freaks me out! (And when I tell these little stories of our struggles at first, I hope it doesn't discourage people or make people worried about their child's future. I share these tidbits of hardships to show how he's always overcome them, because children with Down Syndrome are more alike than different)

Here's my awesome son, swinging away......




Here's Mackenzie on the slide, she's a daredevil too! ;)



and finally, Miss Monkey, um....I mean Kelsey! ;)




Now, as much as these three love doing their own thing, they really do love spending time together! Notice how each one shares their favorite things with the others....

Ryan sees his sisters on the swings, but they are not going high enough for his liking! Surely they need his help in pushing them higher!




Kelsey then climbs up to get to the monkey bars-

then invites her brother and sister to join her!



She decides to teach them how too to hang like monkeys!

but once up there, Mackenzie realizes she's really not into hanging,

she'd much rather climb through the circle thingy-ma-bob!

and what's better than having your big sister along for the ride?!

and Ryan all of a sudden is like "hey, where are my girls at?, I must be in the wrong circle!" LOL

And just a few more to share the last of this fantabulous time we had together....(and a side note - I took these pictures days before Kelle of Enjoying the Small Things posted playground pictures on her blog...I almost didn't want to write this post because I didn't want people thinking I copied her idea....I mean, damn, I even have a me shadow picture to share that happened so by accident!!! LOL Not that I don't dig Kelle, Poppa, her gorgeous Nella and her blog, but listen Sister....I had this playground idea first! Just didn't have the chance to post because of the whole working full time, having 3 kids in school with multiple after school activities occuring, etc....LOL)
So, in closing, my wonderful children, all together.....

I like this one because it captures all 3 of them doing their own random thing

and this one's really cool because "hey look", it's my shadow!


These little people sure could be a handful when dealing with a busy, daily life...

but lord knows, I wouldn't have it any other way! It doesn't get better than this!