March 19, 2009

Got up today and grabbed Pearl for a Daddy/Daughter day, got the munchkin without even the slightest movement from Kim. I was a sneaky toddler theif, got her out of the house without waking the Mommy. I bet it was nice to wake up and have no diaper to change or crying little monster to feed first thing. I got up and packed a few things in the car:
diaper bag, cooler with juice, yogurt, and cereal bars, towels, water shoes, Pearl's floaty, sunblock, and the camera to record the day's adventures. After the car was packed I got the kid and changed her very full diaper and put her in her going out clothes and tossed her in the car with all the other stuff. Then it was off to Wekiva Springs for our Daddy/Daughter day,with swimming and other assorted  activities.
I put Pearl in her new bathing suit for the drive to Wekiva, not just because she looked super adorable in it but also so there was less changing to do once we were there. Changing Pearl in the hot sun while a nice refreshing dip in the cool water was taunting us didn't sound like too much fun at all. With her new pink one peice all I had
to do was take off her shorts and shoes and we could get in the water. The water was very crisp, and Pearl really didn't like it at first, and to be honest I didn't either, but I knew once we got used to it we'd be just fine. She would not let me put her into her boat right away, she clung to me for
dear life. Once she got used to the water a little bit floating in her boat was just fine. Simply floating turned into splashing and playing in no time, I had a very happy smiling little girl. We swam, or I should say "I swam, and she floated", for about 20 minutes, even getting our heads wet at one point. I looked over at Pearl
and the poor little girl was just shivvering away, teeth clattering and everything, and she looked at me and gave me this sort of half smile. I knew it was time to exit the spring, go dry off and walk around for a while. We got Pearl out of her wet swim clothes and back into her shorts
and t-shirt, and put all the stuff back on the stroller and headed back up to the car. We decided that we would drive down to the playground because we really weren't ready to leave yet. Pearl got to ride in the front seat through the parking lot, she really didn't know what to make of that. I think if she were able to see
out the front window it would have been more exciting for her, she is just to short to fully enjoy the front seat. We parked the car and walked the path to the playground, Pearl was instantly everywhere all at once it seemed. She was like a little miniature tornado on that playground,
she even climbed up on the equipment and played on that. She went swinging on the swings and even got in the "big kid" swing all by herself wanting to swing on that one. I decided that we would swing together on that one, and put her in the "little kid" swing for er solo swing. From the bench on the side
of the playground I could see all nooks and crannies, so I sat there and let her explore all on her own. Every once and a while she would look over at me to make sure I was still there and proceed to wander around and discover new things. Each look back to me had a longer interval between the glances,
as if she just new I would be there when she looked again, and each look was accompanied by a little smile. She climbed up on the main apparatus of the playground a second time, this time ascending all the way to the top where the big slide starts it's journey to the ground. I was sitting at the bottom of the slide taking pictures
of Pearl playing at the top, and suddenly she just went to the summit of the slide and let go, she slid all the way down to me. I had no idea that she would slide all by herself, we had slid together earlier when we first arrived to the playground. I was in shock, and so very proud of my brave little monkey. I was caught completely of guard and did not capture the slide on camera, so I placed her back at the top with the hopes that she would repeat her act of bravery, and she did just that!

After all the climbing, swinging, and to my pleasant suprise sliding we decided to return to the car to get ready to leave and go home. We had a little snack in the car before we headed out, and as we were leaving I decided to drive around and explore a little bit.
Pearl was out for the count before we even got over to the campground, only about 4 minutes from the springs. She slept almost the whole way home, waking up when we arrived at Walmart to get dinner. Pork loin stuffed with sausage and wrapped with bacon, with mashetopatoes and green beans...

The End

Later in the evening after a bath and being put into her PJ's Pearl decided to put a pair of shorts on over her jammies. Then she wanted her frog slippers on, and the pink "Disney Flair" sash around her shoulder. The result, and I think you will all agree, was too cute NOT to take a picture or 2...