The Adventures of Our Little Pickle

Yesterday, Jake and I spent nearly all day outside. We have been so blessed with beautiful weather this week!! Last week was spring break for the area, and since we don't have "spring break", I was sort of dreading the week because of all the extra people that would be in all our normal places. The zoo, the aquarium, the park, even the grocery store! But it rained all week, so we happily hibernated. Jake played outside regardless, because even though it was rainy all week, it was pretty nice out. So, before I go onto our fun day yesterday, I have to post a couple of my favorites from last week.

That would be my umbrella. :)

seeing the world through the eyes of your child has got to be one of the coolest things this side of eternity!

Ok, so I am on a quest to be outside as much as possible while it's so nice we aren't melting yet. Jake surely does not mind that! For the first probably 18 months, being outside was more of a chore keeping him from eating everything than it was exploration.

We started our day with morning time snuggles and giggles.

Silliest kid I know!

I seriously do not understand his obsession with the "wips"...

We got all ready to go to the park and play around.

He likes to slide down normal, face first, and this way... mixing it up, keepin it real on the playground.

Someone didn't take a very long nap, so we took advantage of the extra time and went out to a nature park in South BA. It was reconfirmed to me, while we were there, that children BELONG outdoors. Not just the playground, but like really outside with the sights, sounds and smells of the great outdoors. This nature park is like a nice little hike through the woods, but still close enough to society lol.

We happened upon this little gem. We walked up and all the trees around were gnawed off, and I thought... hmm... Then I saw a large pile of brush stacked quite nicely in the water. We were in beaver territory. 

My child, welcome to the wonderful world of "soft dirt".

He got an owie and was showing me, while also showing me his quite nice little quads he's got going on.

Watching a squirrel run up a tree.

This kid goes ninety-to-nothing... always!

He is so cute.

We went inside the little building at the entrance of the park, where there were plenty of displays. Here, Jake is admiring a tarantula. Jake is asking it why it's hiding, and telling it to come out of there, in this picture.

I wish I had pictures from swim lessons, we'll have to get some next week. We started a class a couple months ago, and Jake LOVED it. So we decided we would continue swimming, his first lesson in his new class was last night. Let me just say... the child is a FISH. We got to have the same teacher as last time, so she has been able to see Jake's progression. The class Jake is in, does full submersion. Yes, my 2 year old can hold his breath underwater with zero problems. Now they just started it in the last couple sessions, and those times he was always a little choked up when he came up.... like he'd gulped down a bunch of water. This time, toootally different story! He came up out of the water like nothing had happened. So, I just went with it while we waited on the other kids to take their turns. I let him start going under. You don't just drop them underwater, there are verbal cues that prepare them to take a breath before going under. By the end of class, Jake was swimming under water 3 feet stretches to the wall, climbing up and waiting on my go ahead to jump back in. If you know Jake and water, you know that 2 months ago, the latter would have never happened. That kid jumped in whether you were ready or not. Needless to say, Miller Swim School in Tulsa is AWESOME! Jake loves swim lessons, and I of course love watching him do something he loves!

It was such a fun day for both of us! We went back to the nature park tonight with Jake's friend, Kale. They were pretty cute together, although I feel like I spent most of my time keeping Jake out of harm's way. :)

Happy Wednesday, friends!