"This is the day...

that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." This is what Luke and I sang as we walked hand in hand on Saturday through a gorgeous field on the most beautiful January day that I remember in a long time. On another Mommy and Luke date, at one point on Saturday afternoon as Luke and I sat at a picnic table and enjoyed a snack together, I took a quiet moment to say a prayer of thankfulness - I said out loud, "Lord, I come to you in the name of Jesus, and I thank for this moment, for this day, and for this quality time. Please don't ever let me forget it."

And...hopefully, journaling like this will help me remember it forever.

I'm always looking for fun things for Luke and I to do. Daddy was playing golf so, after doing some research to find a new park that Luke and I haven't visited, I discovered Hagan Stone Park in Pleasant Garden. With just a 35 minute drive and absolutely no cost, Luke and I had almost 5 hours worth of fun - yes, that's right a whole afternoon of park and playground fun for FREE!

It was about 68 degrees, scattered clouds, and in this location with almost no one else around, it is difficult to put into words how peaceful it was. At one point, as Luke and I sat beside of the water on a bench, with him on my lap, I looked at him and said, "Sweetheart, I hope you know that I would not want to be anywhere else in the world right now. This is perfect!" Does he REALLY understand what I'm telling him? I don't think so, but I'm sure he senses my love of being with him and enjoying our time together. I hope and pray that he experiences this kind of peace and love and bonding with his own child one day.

I know I blog so much about all of the places that Luke and I go - I'm always wanting to find somewhere for us to explore and all of our trips are great, we always have a super time and we always make the best of whatever we run into, but, on Saturday, I was caught off guard with the fun time that we would have.

Luke took an early nap on Saturday so he was awake by 12:30. We quickly ate some lunch, I packed some snacks and drinks, and then we headed to the park. I chose Hagan Stone Park because I saw on the internet that it had a brand new Fun for All Playground (which means it has ramps instead of steps). I also noticed that it had a one room schoolhouse that you could visit. Other than directions and what the internet said about the park, I knew nothing else.

I programmed the GPS with the address and off we went. When we arrived, I wanted to find a bathroom before we tried to find the playground. We entered the park and saw a small brick building with bathrooms. We stopped at this building, got out, used the bathroom and then looked across the street at a gorgeous photo opportunity. There was the neatest little old building with hay bales and an old broken down wagon sitting in a wide open field beside of a lake. Luke looked over and saw it and said, "Do you want to climb on the hay?" (which, in other words means, I want to climb in the hay.) So, at Luke's request, we headed across the street for some photo and exploration fun. Luke climbed up on the wagon and tried to smile for a few pictures. The only problem was he would smile but he was always looking the other way. :) After he got down from the wagon, he saw some more hay bales stacked like steps and he wanted to climb them. So, I let him climb them and took a few more pictures. I was able to get a few great ones-not of his smile but of his ever changing facial features. I'm usually always snapping pictures as he talks or sings. After getting a few pictures on the hay bales, I just let him explore and play wherever he wanted. He had a ball! He found him a few sticks and used the sticks to hit a pine cone like a hockey puck, he used the same sticks to draw in the dirt, and he used these sticks to move leaves around as he looked for bigger sticks. He saw a big log laying down and he told me, "That stick is really BIG!"We talked about the different size sticks he had found, which one was the smallest, which one was the biggest. As he continued to talk and play, I took several pictures with the purpose of just trying to capture his animated personality on camera. The day and the setting was so beautiful I couldn't help but take pictures!!!

As we continued to explore this neat little photographic site, Luke played peek a boo behind the poles. It was so quiet that he recognized the sound of an airplane several times and wanted to look for it in the sky so we watched several airplanes fly over us. One of my favorite parts of this little spot was the picnic table. It was tucked away behind the old, little house. Luke and I sat down and ate our snack together. He ate a banana and part of my cheese stick. While eating his banana, he told me that he wanted to walk toward the water, so, together, we walked to the water - this is the point where we sang together and held hands as we walked through the wide open field. As we walked, I talked about how beautiful the day was and how thankful I was for this weather and for Luke. When we made it to the water, Luke sat down on my lap and we talked about all of the different animals that live in the water - fish, turtles, snakes....as we continued to take in the scenery, Luke saw a family with several kids and a dog coming from the other side of the water so he asked me if we could go to the other side. I had nothing else to do besides spend time with Luke, so, I said, of course we can.

As we walked to the other side of the water, Luke would say, "Let's go slow" (and then he would walk real slow) and then he would say, "Let's go fast" (and then he would run). I thought it was so cute that he decided on his own to play this little game. When we arrived on the other side of the water, Luke looked across the water and noticed this beautiful black lab jumping and running around on the edge of the water. The dog was having a blast! He would jump and shake and take off running up the hill! This was quite entertaining for me and Luke. And, I guess it made Luke think about making a splash of his own because he began picking up acorns and throwing them in the water. He was so proud of himself when he heard the "plop" sound. For about 20 minutes, Luke did nothing but climb the hill, get a handful of acorns, and then walk back down the hill and throw the acorns in the water. I just sat down on the hill and watched him "work" and entertain himself. At one point, I laid down on my back and looked up in the sky and told Luke I was going to see what I noticed in the clouds. The clouds were beautiful - they were the big, white puffy kind scattered across the blue sky - you know the kind that you can find "shapes" in. I asked Luke to lay down beside of me to see what he noticed. He laid down on his back for one quick minute and then rolled over and sat on my stomach and gave me the sweetest hug and nose kiss! I just about melted!! :) What a sweet fellow! :)

I asked Luke if he was ready to continue our adventure and attempt to find the playground that we actually came to find and he shook his head "yes". So, we headed back to the car. We sang "Skip to my Lou" as we skipped toward the car. In between skips, Luke kept saying, "This is a fun, fun day" and "What a beautiful day!" (I wonder who he was repeating these phrases from.) :)

We almost made it back in the car and then Mommy noticed this huge pile of leaves and I couldn't help it - I jumped right in, made a few leaf angels, kicked the leaves everywhere, and threw them everywhere. Well, of course, who do you think was right behind me grinning from ear to ear throwing and kicking and laying in the leaves?? That's right - Luke loved this! We played and played in the leaves! We would run as fast as we could through the leaves making them fly through the air. Then, we would make a huge pile and jump in them! Then, silly Luke pretended to eat the leaves. We joked around about how he "better not eat that leaf" as I tried to steal it. He would laugh and laugh! Before we knew it, Luke and I had played in these leaves for over 30 minutes! I have to say, I enjoyed playing in the leaves as much as Luke. It's been a long time since I just played in such a child like care free manner with nature. I felt like a kid again and boy it was fun!

Here are some pictures of our fun playing in nature!!!

Luke on the hay bales on the old wagon....

This one is my favorite....

Peek-a-boo...



Looking for the airplane....



I set the self timer and attempted to get a few pictures together...










Our fun in the leaves...
















Eating our snack together...

Walking to the water....


Throwing acorns in the water...


Believe it or not, we finally did find the playground that we intended to find. We drove another mile down this long, windy road and the playground was at the back of the park. Unlike our peaceful, quiet, lakeside spot, this place was quite crowded. Luke didn't let the crowd bother him at all. He found one particular tunnel and slide that he loved and he climbed and slid 100 times. He would climb up the big, blue tunnel and then slide down the yellow slide. He also enjoyed going the opposite way - he would climb the steps, go down the big, blue tunnel and then go down the small purple slide. The purple slide was a double slide so he enjoyed it when I went down with him. One of the cutest times on the slide was when he some how got turned around while he was sliding and ended up sliding down on his belly instead of his bottom. As he slid down, he looked up at me and said, "This is a disaster." Now, that's funny. :)

In between sliding, Luke enjoyed standing on the see saw. A sweet boy, probably around 9 years old, would get on the other end of the see saw and bounce Luke very gently. There was also this music station where Luke could play the drums and several cymbal sounding instruments and with Mommy's help, he could reach up and ring the big, LOUD, cowbell.

Luke thought it was quite funny when he would take off running under the ramps as I chased him. He thought it was funny because it took me a much longer time to fit under these small spaces than it did him so, for once in his life, he was "beating me" and could almost out run me. :) I did notice that, even as much as he liked this chasing game, he made sure not to get too far from me - smart boy! :)

Luke's absolute favorite part of the whole playground was this little red car that he could climb on and "drive." He kept telling me that he was driving to Georgia - man, he loves that place! :) I sat down and drove with him several times. He asked me if he could use my key to "crank" the car and I let him (as I closely supervised) while he "cranked" every screw on the car using my key. This kept his attention for quite awhile. :) Almost 2 hours after we arrived at the playground, I told Luke that we needed to go home. It was only about 20 minutes before sunset and I wanted to try to get home before dark. Luke had played so hard that he didn't disagree with me. He politely, without a fight, headed to the car. As we always do, we talked about our fun, fun day on the way home.

Here are some more pictures of Luke playing on the red car at the playground....






There were a million things I could've done on Saturday - we could've stayed at home, we could've gone to a park that we've been to a 100 times, I could've stayed inside and watched the Carolina basketball game, but I didn't - I spent a perfect afternoon with my little man and I'm so glad that I did. Days like that give me the memories and bonding time that I need to make it through the next work week. :)

Before I go, here are a few pictures of some early morning play time at our house. Luke is going through a stage where he loves to color - I love to color too so I enjoy sitting down and coloring with him. Here's a picture of his Chuggington coloring page.
Notice on this picture that Luke attempted to color the train's nose....I thought it was great that Luke attempted to go inside the lines - notice I said "attempted"....
Look at that bed head hairdo....
As you know, we are working on number identification here at home. One of the games that Luke loves is a "Hide the Numbers" game. I hide his big numbers all over the living room and Luke goes around and finds them and loads them in his shopping cart. Here he is "shopping" for numbers. :)



And, some videos....

#1- You must listen closely in this video....Luke correctly identifies a shape that he is holding which is an orange rectangle. He knows that it is orange and that it is a rectangle. He can recognize about 6 shapes and about 6 colors now.

#2 - Luke dramatically trying to climb the big tree.

#3-Luke throwing acorns in the water and climbing the hill to find more.

One more thing (before I close tonight)....I am so glad that many of my family and friends read this blog - it makes writing it worthwhile. Even more, I love hearing and reading your comments on what you think about our Luke adventures. There are a few people who talk with me personally about my blog, there are a few people who comment online or through email, and then there are a few people who talk about my blog to people that I know and their comments get back to me. :) Those comments sometimes end up being my favorite.

One of those comments that I heard through the grapevine recently was this - now, keep in mind that this comment did not come to me directly from the person that said it, I wish it would have so I could have addressed at the moment. Anyway, the comment was, "One day Natasha is going to realize that there are no geniuses." I am thinking that this is implying that I think Luke is a genius. Well, I can't let this go without addressing it - do I think Luke is a genius???? NO WAY - far from it!!! He's probably above average intelligence but that could all change at any time if he loses his motivation to learn. And, if he were a genius, he would be POTTY TRAINED!! :) Yes, I brag about Luke on this blog....not because I want to exaggerate or make him look good in front of others but because one day when I'm old and he's grown up, I want to remember the good times and this blog is my journal to help me remember. I would write the same things even if no one read this blog. Do I think Luke is perfect???? NO WAY! Oh my goodness, if you think I think Luke is perfect - read some blogs that I have written about his time out episodes and how he doesn't sleep well. He is FAR from perfect! I have made a mental note to share on here some of the major meltdowns and battles that have occurred in my house in the last few months. Luke has many moments that are not glamorous. I will try to share some of those soon.

Okay....so, off the soapbox I go. :)

No matter what your thoughts on what I blog, I really do appreciate EVERYONE that reads my blog. It means a lot to me that you take the time to catch up on us!

Have a great rest of your week everyone! Stay tuned for an upcoming blog about another one of Luke's firsts! The pictures are ready, the notes are ready, so I'm hoping for a quick turn around of another blog within a few days.

See you soon...

Toddy