water fun

Now that summer has finally arrived, we've spent some time exploring the spray parks near our house. Nate really seems to enjoy the water, although it sometimes takes him a little while to warm up to the idea of running through the spray. It helps that everyone else in the Boston suburbs is also at the park, despite how the photos may appear, so there are lots of other kids running around in the water to entice Nate to join in the fun.

We visited the Arlington park first, which is close to our house (and really close to Aunt Holly's place), which was nice for it's location and because it's pretty small. Nate ran around, splashing, for a while until he was sucked in by the pied piper's song coming from the ice cream truck. He's like a moth to a light (or, if the truck is off in the distant, like a dog hearing something miles away with peaked ears).
















































The next day we tried Beaver Brook, a park in Waltham that we drive by en route to our CSA farm. It looks great from the road, and was even better in person. Like Arlington, there's a water area and a playground, but in this case it's a much bigger facility with more amenities, including some lifeguards (or people who look like lifeguards). In case there was any question, since the water's about two-inches deep, according to the pool rules sign it's not a safe place to dive.

We've noticed that a lot of spray parks are located directly next to sand boxes. What's the deal with that? Did the playground designers not realize that wet kids and sand are a messy combination, or is it some cruel parental joke?

I'm really not sure why Nate's had this yellow shirt on so much recently (or at least, whenever I have the camera), but it's great when there are crowds because it's super easy to pick him out of the crowd. I highly recommend that everyone with a small child get a bright yellow shirt.