Grass-less

Oh what is a tree hugger to do?

The weather here has been quite nice for the past week. It seems that we just about skipped over Spring and started Summer early. That is fine with me because I like warm weather and it is nice to finally be able to go outside and get some fresh air without freezing to death.

Matt and I decided to take Gracie to the park a few days ago so that she could run around freely and play. She really loves other children and there are always plenty at the park. She also loves bubbles, so I took a bottle with us. When we were at the park earlier in the year we noticed some people practicing Tai Qi and other exercises on a lawn in the park. We thought that would be the perfect place to let Gracie chase bubbles, but when we got to the lawn we noticed a flimsy fence made of rope wrapped around wooden stakes circling the grass. THere was also a sign which I can only imagine read, "Stay off the grass" when what they probably wanted to say was,"Don't poop, pee, throw cigarette butts, sunflower seed husks, or trash on the grass." The latter would have been ignored, so they just simply made the lawn inaccessable. Why is there no place for a child to play in this city. All the playground equipment is actually some sort of exercise equipment and we were told Gracie was too little to play in the inflatable fun house. It is amazing how fragile most people think a 16 month old is... they follow close behind her and try to prevent her from ever falling and gasp when she does. Don' t they know she is a weeble wobble (aka Toddler) and is in fact very fond of falling, climbing, bumping into things, and getting dirty. Of course the only problem is that when she falls here we have to make sure she dodged the spit, poop, pee, etc that can be found on any given sidewalk, road, garden, step, restaurant floor, etc, etc, etc.

Oh what is a tree hugger to do? No I'm not actually a tree hugger, but I do love the great outdoors and the thought of Gracie not being able to even play in the grass unsettles me a bit. Especially after seeing her have so much fun in Thailand. (see picture below)

Oh, well I guess her rice box will have to suffice for now. Yes, she has a rice box in lieu of a sand box since there is no clean sand to found. It's a close second! If you have any other ideas pass um on, I'm always looking for more ways to entertain our little adventurer.