afternoon delight

We had another wonderful weekend with delightful weather! The summer days are slowly coming to an end so we are trying to squeeze in as many outdoor activities as we can. We were looking for something different to do with Olivia on Saturday so we thought she would enjoy running through the dancing water fountains at Headwaters Park.

Olivia is thrilled with any activity that involves water so we had a feeling she would enjoy this too. After a nice long afternoon nap and a good hearty lunch we headed downtown. It was late afternoon so we were hoping that the fountains would not be very busy. It is a very popular place for children in the summer because it is public and a great place to cool off! We were excited when we arrived and saw that there was only one other family there. At first Olivia was very hesitant to approach the shooting waters. I lead by example and got right in myself! Hey, having a little one is a great excuse for acting like a kid again! After showing her that there was no reason to be scared she started making her way a little closer.

The waters start out very low and gradually make their way higher and higher until they are full blast. They can be a little intimidating to a small person so I totally understood why Olivia did not want to get to close when they were full blast. Plus, they are quite forceful and could hurt I think. But she was smart enough to move out of the way once they started to get higher. The cutest thing was when the waters would disappear completely. She would go stand on top of the grate and say, "Where waters go?". Needless to say she was beyond excited when they would start to come back and the first time was just as exciting as the 20th time! I included a few videos below of Olivia's experience with the foutains.

After a few rounds of watching the waters with hesitation she was ready to get right in the middle of the action. Her screams of delight as she would run through the water were priceless Her bravery still amazes me. It makes me so happy that she is an adventurous little girl. There isn't much she is afraid of or won't try.

There is nothing better than watching your child enjoy something to it's fullest. It really was a delightful afternoon! Why didn't I think of this earlier in the summer? As you can imagine all of that running around made Olivia quite tired and hungry, so we had to stop for a quick snack before finishing up our water play. Have I ever mentioned before how much this child LOVES bananas? When she was first starting to talk she called them "badas" and within the past couple of months she started saying "bananas". It is one of her favorite words to say and probably her favorite fruit to eat!

But on most hot days you can find us running through this sprinkler in the backyard. This has been Olivia's favorite thing to do this summer. No matter how many times we do this activity she still cannot contain her excitement! The perfect afternoon for Olivia is a little sprinkler action followed up by a refreshing popsicle. Life can't get much better than that!

One week from today Olivia starts Montessori school! Today we went to meet Olivia's teacher and let Olivia take a look around her classroom. After spending a few short minutes in the room I have no doubt that she is going to LOVE going to school! Is my baby really heading off to school next week? How is this possible!