I still have a lot to post from our summer adventures the last week or so; however, yesterday was such an exciting day that it deserves a post of its own. We started our day out yesterday by going to our favorite park - Burlington City Park. It is totally awesome! You need to visit if you haven't already. It takes about 40 minutes to get there and the kids can ride each ride for only 60 cents - that's pretty cheap. I paid $12 yesterday and Luke rode 20 rides - that was over 2 hours of pure, fun, entertainment for both of us.
Luke's favorite rides were the cars and the airplanes/helicopters. Last year, I wouldn't let him ride the airplanes and the helicopters because they go up in the air and I was scared he would fall out. But, this year, I let him ride and he loved them. We rode the train one time and he loved it as usual and the rest of the time, he went from one car ride to another or from one plane ride to another. It was not crowded at all so several times Luke didn't even have to get back in line. He would just hand the workers another ticket and choose a different color car or plane/helicopter.
Speaking of tickets, it was so sweet to watch Luke take his ticket up to the attendants and then try his best to climb in and out of the rides by himself. By the time we were done yesterday, he was able to latch and unlatch himself - which, at one point, was kind of scary, but for the most part, just another reminder of how my baby boy is becoming more independent. Because Luke thinks he is an "engineer" and wants to know how everything works, a scary point came when he decided to lift the bar up on the side of the helicopter as he flew through the air. They almost stopped the ride but, thankfully, Luke heard me tell him to close it back and he listened. He had his seatbelt on too so he wouldn't have fallen out, but, nevertheless, he should not be messing with safety bars.
Like I said, for almost 2 hours, we went back and forth from ride to ride. Some highlights included -
While we were walking to the train, I asked Luke. "Luke, what are you thinking about when you look so serious driving those cars around the track?" Luke's response, "I'm making sure that I don't drive onto the grass." (I guess he doesn't realize he's not actually driving and I will never tell him differently.)
While we were walking back to the cars after riding the train, I told Luke that we needed to go faster by skipping. I showed him how to skip and then he skipped along beside of me. When we arrived at the cars, he saw that they had just started the ride for one of its trips. When he saw this, he stopped all of a sudden and said, "Oh my gracious! There it goes AGAIN!" He was so dramatic!
At one point, while he was riding in a helicopter, a little girl riding the airplane in front of him was crying the entire ride. You could see how much this bothered Luke just by looking at his face. He kept poking his head out of the helicopter to look at her and he puckered his lip to make a sad face. When the ride stopped, Luke said, "Mommy, I saw that little girl crying and I tried to get to her but I couldn't." I reassured him that she was okay but that he was very sweet to worry about her. What a thoughtful gentleman! :) Daddy would be proud!
After about an hour of riding, he looked at me with sweat running down his cheeks and said, "Mommy, I'm sweating because I've been driving a lot. I'm tired." :)
His favorite car to ride was the John Deere tractor. Imagine that! Would anyone have guessed that??? :) For two rides in a row, he rode on the back of the tractor, which meant that he was "driving" backwards. He loved this and thought he was an expert driver because he could do this! :)
As we were walking from one ride to another, he was walking right behind me and he stepped on my flip flop and almost fell. He was so cute as he got frustrated and told me, "Mommy, get out of my way!" That's funny! Me, in his way....my, oh my! I reminded him - buddy, you need to watch where you are going. Sometimes I feel like I'm communicating with a 5 year old.
After he rode the rides 20 times and already had a head full of sweat, he wanted to go slide and play on the playground so I let him slide a few times. He slid for about 10 minutes and then he and I both just about couldn't stand the heat anymore. I let him get himself a little wet by playing in the water fountain for a minute to cool off and then we tried out the swings for just a few minutes - the swings were right in the sun so we were roasting! Finally, around 1:00, I was able to convince him to get in the car so we could go swim at Memaw's house! He happily agreed, got a little mad when he realized he didn't save any tickets to ride the carousel and then he was fine. He fell asleep for the last 20 to 30 minutes of the trip home and then woke up as soon as we pulled in the driveway.
Even though he was still tired and kind of ill, I asked him if he wanted to go to Memaw's pool and play and he cheered up immediately. Before we get to our afternoon fun, check out our Burlington Park pictures...
Videos:
Luke riding on the tractor...
Luke riding an airplane...
Luke riding the boat....
And, now, onto our afternoon fun....we arrived at Memaw's pool around 2:30pm and at first, all Luke wanted to do was leave the pool and go to Memaw's house and jump on the trampoline. We finally convinced him to play for about 45 minutes and then we would go. Thank goodness....in the meantime, he ended up staying for almost 2 hours....the reason - he learned to swim without someone holding him - it was great!
Mom and I would let go of him in his blue shirt float every now and then for just a few seconds. He would do as he usually does and sort of panic and want us to grab him. Then, after being at the pool for about 30 minutes, we put him in his boat for a little while and he kicked around the pool. All of a sudden, he said, "I want to swim to the ladder." We said, "All by yourself?? Or in your boat??" He replied, "All by myself." Mom got him out of the boat and then let him go and amazingly, he started kicking and swimming to the ladder. It was awesome!!! Mom and I were yelling and jumping - so excited for him! Mom even did a back flip! I did a new "Luke is swimming!" dance! We cheered him on as he swam all the way across the pool to the steps!
Once he realized that he could swim independently, he didn't want anyone touching him the rest of the afternoon. If we tried to help him, he would say, "Don't touch me! I'm swimming." Well, well, excuse us! :)
He would swim to the steps, walk up them, get his toys that he wanted, and then walk down the steps and walk right into the water and start swimming! It was great! His favorite game was taking his scoopers out into the water and scooping up his gooey fish and turtles. He quickly learned how to swim to the wall and hold on so he could rest and he learned how to reach up on the wall and place his toys on the wall or get his toys off the wall. We taught him how to climb up the ladder and down the ladder and get into the water all by himself. He loved this independence and freedom!
I, on the other hand, got really excited at first that he had found this new independence, but after realizing that he didn't want me to hold him at all in the water, I had a brief sad moment - all of those times that I have been hugging on him in the pool might be over! He is now going to be on the move all the time, which, will be, in the long run, much easier for me and much more fun because we can play so many more games, but, it's just another reminder of how Luke is getting older and more grown up! This time next year, he will be swimming on his own (probably with only arm floats). Wowsers! Luke is growing up!!!
This makes a small piece of me wonder - now that Luke is getting more independent - is it time for another little Bumgarner??? Who knows??? Maybe, just maybe.....:)
Anyway - a few other fun things that Luke did at the pool - he used the watering can to make what he called an "alphabet trail" - he learned that terminology from Super Why!
Luke had a very intelligent moment while using his watering can - Mom and I kept telling him that one reason he couldn't go to the trampoline is because it was too hot (this was before he started swimming). Well, as he sprinkled water with his watering can, he came up to me and mom and said, "I have an idea! I can use the water in this watering can and put it on the trampoline to cool it off." Wow! That is so smart but didn't change our minds. You have to give him credit for being a problem solver! :)
Oh....I almost forgot - every time that Luke walked down the steps into the water, he would say, "I'm going into the cellar." My dad has a cellar and you have to walk down steps to get into the cellar, so, I guess this is where Luke is getting that from.
At one point, Luke was so comfortable swimming that he started swimming backwards and spinning in circles. He would say, "I'm going backwards and now I'm going forwards. I'm going in a circle!" It was cute! He was smiling a huge smile from ear to ear the whole time! :)
I can't wait to go to the pool with Daddy this afternoon so we can show him Luke's new swimming moves!
Here are some pictures and video....
Videos of Luke Swimming:
The 1st Time:
Swimming and Scooping:
Going "Down in the Cellar" - in other words, off the steps, all by himself...
As always, thank you for reading. Check back soon for other adventures from this week! Please remember that if you haven't visited in awhile, you need to check previous posts - the Lord has really been talking to me and you don't want to miss anything! I'm starting my study of the book Luke in the Bible - not because of my Luke, but because I've had several scriptures stand out in my mind about that book and I've never read it from start to finish before! :) I'm excited! I have no idea when I will post about it - remember, I'm not on a set schedule - I'm on God's schedule!
Have a great rest of your week!
Toddy
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