Summer Recap II

In late July we visited this park for the first time. It's since become one of our favorites, and it's only a few minutes away.

A man-made "creek" that flows down an incline/steps with a shallow pool at the bottom.

It's the perfect place to cool off a bit without the hassle of going to the pool.

The kids love it here!

The playground area, with a farm theme. Here's the silo with slides.

And the tractor--Christian's favorite. He thinks it belongs to only him.

A very tall "rope climbing thing" (as we call it). Gabriel's near the top.

Unfortunately, the "rope climbing thing" proved to be John's downfall. He couldn't get any higher than the lowest rope, which was about three feet off the ground, so I wasn't too worried about him. But the poor little guy managed to fall off and break his arm anyway. As soon as I heard him crying and saw his arm, I knew it was broken. I ended up asking another mom to call 911--we had only been living here for a week, and I had no clue how to get to the hospital. All three kids were soaked from the waist down and weren't wearing shoes--it was a stressful situation, to say the least! First a policeman came, and he very kindly held my soggy Christian. Then came a fire engine, then the ambulance, and then Ryan, thank goodness. I rode with John in the ambulance to the children's hospital--he was very brave, especially after receiving some pain medicine. The doctors confirmed that both bones in his forearm were broken, but they were able to push them back into place without surgery, thankfully. Five weeks and several x-rays later, the cast was removed and John is back to his normal active self! 

And John doesn't seem at all traumatized by the experience. In fact, he keeps asking to go back to the hospital. After all, he did get to lie in bed and watch movies (of his choice) all afternoon. After we got there, he only got upset once: when a nurse was blocking his view of the Cars 2 movie.

And those nurses, who were so sweet to him, gave him a remote control robot, new red pajamas, and a stuffed dog from the "Build a Bear" store. No wonder he wants to go back!

We've returned to the park many times since then, and the kids fondly refer to it as "Broken Arm Park".