A Little Sunshine Goes A Long Way

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This weekend we finally had a little reprieve from the cold temperatures and dreary days. The sun was shining and it was beautiful out. My only complaint was the wind that just would not seem to die down. Knowing it was supposed to be warm, I told Hubby Friday night that I wanted to get outside Saturday and at least take Zach to the park to enjoy the sunshine a bit. I was also dying to get my new camera out and play with it a bit since I hadn’t had the chance to do any outdoor shots yet.

I thought it would be fun to have a picnic at the park, then give Zach some time to play and head home just in time for a nap. Since we didn’t really have any easy picnic-type food at home, we decided to stop at Sonic and just pick something up on the way. While we were waiting for our food, I was noticing just how windy it really was. We went ahead with our picnic idea though, and headed to the park. That proved to be an unfortunate decision as a big gust of wind ended up blowing Zach’s corn dog and fries all over the ground. It was quite a tragic experience, but as soon as we got him calmed down he insisted that we pick his food up off the ground so he could eat it anyway. Daddy’s replacement fries simply would not do. He wanted his! At least they had landed mostly on the concrete slab under the picnic table instead of in the mud and grass a few short feet away.

Once we were done eating, it was time for the fun stuff. Zach ran to the playground as I pulled my camera out to get a few shots. The wind was a little chilly, but the warm sun shining down helped a lot. Zach had a blast climbing and sliding while Hubby and I discussed the fact that this may be the last chance we have to do something like this with just one child.

Soon, other people started showing up to enjoy the sunshine. There was the quiet couple with the 2-year-old boy who seemed to prefer walking around in the grass to the slide. Then there was the couple with three kids and another on the way. The wife and I started chatting immediately as tends to happen when you get two pregnant women together. It turns out that she is due just a few days before me and we ended up talking for quite a while. It wasn’t long before the husbands started talking as well. Hubby and I were really enjoying their company and were very disappointed to find out that they were visiting from Minnesota. It is so rare that we meet other couples that we click so easily with. We were really hoping they lived nearby. We chatted a bit longer, switched cameras to shoot some family photos for each other, then said our good-byes and headed our separate ways.

When we got home from our little outing, Zach and I were both rather exhausted. He curled up on the couch for a nap while I flipped through the pictures I had taken at the park. I managed to get some great shots, but apparently had the camera settings all wrong because all of the pictures are rather fuzzy when you look at them larger. As long as I keep them small they look ok, but I’m afraid they won’t print well at all. I was pretty disappointed by that, but I guess there’s nothing I can do about it now but learn to do it better next time.

After looking through the photos, I realized that this may very well be the last photo of our little family as it exists now. Soon we will be a foursome, and while that is a wonderful, exciting thing, it also makes me just a little sad to say good-bye to this phase of our family’s life.