Back to Bluemont

This summer I have made it my goal to visit as many local parks as possible.  (I know, it isn't a quantifiable goal, but I wanted the kind of resolution that you can't really fail at, you know?)  Also, I'm not going to try to rate, map, photograph, and catalogue them for you. The Meanest Momma already did so on her site, and I use it to pick my destinations.

Really, I just want to get out of the house and get PDG exhausted enough in the mornings that he keeps taking naps. Everybody is happier when PDG naps. Especially PDG.  But without a 5:30am wake-up, the nap isn't as guaranteed these days.

Last year I discovered and fell in love with Bluemont Park thanks to my church's weekly playgroup. They also rotate parks during nice weather and I join in with the SAHMs during my summer vacation. I wrote about a sweet day I spent with PDG while pregnant last year and how we sat watching the bubbles in the little creek there and felt genuinely happy. Here we were then

summer 2013

This year, we already crossed Bluemont off the list one hot day. It's great because it's so shaded and I knew we needed a big enough place for PDG to run around lots without overheating. We succeeded.

Then, when it was time to go, the same thing happened. He heard the water and wanted to go look. Mesmerized at first by the bubbles, and later by all the tiny minnows he discovered, the three of us sat entranced at the waters edge for a long, long time. This year he had the vocabulary to tell me what he saw (and that he did NOT want to leave). This year my MDG was outside my belly being all mobile. This year I had a new understanding of having my arms full.

We've grown a lot in a year. It just keeps happening. But I do love the chance that summer gives me to sit, reflect, and in the sweaty craziness of Virginia heat, count my blessings for this wild ride I'm on with my loves.