A Walk in the Park

Today, Colter and I went to the park to take a walk. Instead of getting the exercise I was hoping for, we

threw rocks in the pond,

hung out with some black swans, fed the swans Cheerios off the floorboard of the car,

and played at the playground! I didn't take pictures of that part though because I was too busy sliding, swinging, and chasing Colter around to keep him from falling off equipment that he's really too little for. The walk I planned on was cut short by all the things Colter saw to do instead of sit in his stroller. The park is a big loop, and every time we walked passed something Colter wanted to do, he would start crawling out of the top of his stroller and do his best to convince me to stop. As we walked past the area where we could barely see the playground equipment he likes, he would point at the swings and say, "Whee! Whee!" (whee whee means swing by the way). I was silly enough to think Colter wouldn't notice the playground equipment and we could walk before playing. Silly mommy. I guess we can't go for walks in the park anymore unless I plan on wearing Colter out at the playground first. :)

Some Whining, Rambling and F.F.F.

If you're not interested in a whiny woman, skip first paragraph.

I feel the need to whine. WHAT is wrong with the people at Microsoft? Do they want to make me crazy? I just upgraded to Microsoft Word 2007 and ACK! It is so different! I knew how to do most things on my Word 2003 and consider myself pretty proficient. With this new program, it took me forever to do basic things, like open a document, edit the header, and save a document! I'm sure I'll get used to it and like it just fine, but at the moment, I'm quite frustrated. I don't wanna learn a whole new program! I really think Microsoft could find a better way to get our money besides making changes to their programs, so we have to buy the upgrades. What was wrong with the old Word anyway? And what was wrong with XP? Why do we have to have Vista now? Ugh. It's all so bothersome. Okay, I'm done.

Happy Favorite Foto Friday! Today's theme is "Back to School." Colter's one. He's not going to school yet. He may not ever go to school. I may hold him hostage and home school if I can talk my husband into it. As my hubby is a teacher, he went back to school this week, but I didn't make him pose for a photo. Wouldn't be funny if I took a picture of him on the first day of school every year like people do of their kids? I could walk him to the school bus truck and sigh, "Oh, he's growing up so fast," as I go back in the house. He'd love it. Actually I'm going back to school this year too, but there are no pictures to document it either. I'm going to teach a few classes at the local college on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Since I have to *gulp* leave my precious bundle of joy with a sitter for six hours a week, will I still be considered a stay-at-home mom? What shall my title be? Mostly-stay-at-home-Mom? Crazy-woman-with-tons-of-papers-to-grade-and-a-one-year-old-to-entertain? Hmmm...

Okay, I really am going to get to the point. I promise. Since there are no school pictures of Colter my theme is "Park Play Time!" A few weeks ago, we took advantage of a rare cool day to visit the park. Colter had lots of fun feeding the geese/ducks/swans with Daddy and playing on the swings!

Look at those dirty knees!

Word-Filled Wednesday

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14:1-3

The swans at my local park strike me as lonely. I don't know much about swans*--maybe they're not people persons--or swan swans---whatever, but the swans in the duck pond seem to be depressed loners with troubled hearts. They even hold their heads down in their sadness. If we trust in God, there is no reason for our hearts to be troubled. Jesus loves us! He's prepared a place for us! Someday we'll be with Him! Whoo Hoo! Happy Word-Filled Wednesday!

*I do, however, know that a swan mother is a pen, a father is a cob, and a baby is a cygnet thanks to Eric Carle's Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? Just one of the many things I've learned during story time.