Time with Danica

I had Danica to myself for a few hours while JJ was at daycare and Amma was otherwise engaged. For a few days, the kid had been pestering to visit the "jungle jym" (that I used to call monkey bars) in a nearby school playground. So, that was our first stop.

Note: In an effort to show restraint these are but a few of the photos that I snapped in those few hours. I guess I didn't show much restraint in the taking of pictures, just in the showing of them.

My heart is in my mouth when she (and he) goes into the climbing mode. But, I mostly bear it in silence.

I speak up at this point: "This is as far as you go upside down."

This activity is much easier on my nerves.

From there we were off to a walk in the wooded park across the river. She had requested to return there last winter, but we didn't get around to it until now, as summer begins to wane. Better late than never.

The very first thing she did was to plunge into the grass and head for the tree. After she fell once, I instructed her to turn around because I didn't know what it was like in there. She is quite the adventurer, I'm afraid.

We found the tree where I had taken some pictures around this time last year, and she was happy to pose for me. There was a time when she was not at all interested in posing for pictures, so this is a change that pleases me.

Near the end of our woodsy walk, she found another little tree to swing on and pose at.

After that we headed to the chip truck, where for once, I didn't take pictures. We were just going to get fries, but since this kindergarten kid can read (she can pretty well read any sign she sees) and saw that pogos (hot dogs somehow battered and on a stick) were on the menu, she chose to order that and share my fries. I told her that she would have to wait until October or thereabouts to forestall requests to go back soon. I explained as best I could to a five-year-old that such treats were not terribly healthy or good for us.

We don't get too many one-on-one times, so this was a nice outing for me. It was especially nice when driving home she said: "You know what Buppa? You are the best Buppa ever, ever, ever." That did my heart good, and of course, I repeated the same thing back to her. Well, I didn't call her Buppa exactly, but I think you know what I mean.