Another Successful Trip to the Park

Warning: This post contains filth and nudity. Do not read if you are likely to be offended.

This morning I took my girls to the ward play group at Signal Hill Park. It had been rainy last night and the forecast for today included more rain and possible hail and tornados, so getting out of the house while it was clear this morning seemed like a good idea. Besides, with my constant fatigue and a new wave of extreme nausea over the past few days (if you have missed all the hints in the previous posts: I'm pregnant. For more on that topic you can read my thoughts here.), sitting at the park while mt children freely run and play is seems like a good way for them to get out their energy while I conserve mine.

As we arrive at the park, I scold my oldest daughter into NOT making her way up the hill to the playground by avoiding the bridge and going straight through the muddy stream bed ahead of her. This is her usual path at this park, and every time we leave her shoes are caked in mud. Of course, once we arrive Maggie does not want to swing without me. Mia is asking every two minutes if any friends her age are going to be there. Even when one arrives, Mia spends most of her time hanging around me asking for more snacks, digging through my purse for treats I may have hidden there, and asking why I did not bring another water bottle.

Maggie had found some mud and gotten it on her shoes and feet. Maggie hates to be dirty, and now decides to sit by me, rather than play, and continue to try to have me clean off her feet, which is never to her liking and which she still will not put back into her shoes because they are "wet." Meanwhile, she wipes orange mud all over the side of my pants.

Finally, after an hour of hanging on me, dissatisfied with the many conditions of their visit to the park, my daughters venture to the other side of the playground where they are finally happily entertaining themselves. I can see them stomping around a bit and figure, they are probably in more mud. "Oh, well," I tell myself, "They are washable and at least they are having fun."

But, I have forgotten one thing: Maggie will not tolerate any water or spills on her clothes. My next glance reveals Maggie without her pants on. (Mia had at least the common sense to roll up hers.) This isn't so bad, except that then an offending drop of mud is able to get on her diaper, which she promptly removes. At this point, I make my way across the playground to inform Maggie and Mia that we are going home. Getting muddy is one thing; getting muddy and naked is something else.

I walk to the car to track down a plastic bag for Maggie's soiled pants, and by the time I am back to the playground, Maggie is completely nude in the mud puddle and EVERYTHING that was on the sidelines has now been doused in mud. I round up the kids, (Maggie now has to ride home naked in her car seat, and I hope we don't get in an accident or pulled over), and the soild items, and as we walk to the car congratulate myself on another successful trip to the park.