The Good Family: Binn's Park

Monday, September 2, 2013

Binn's Park

One last "summer" event before the start of school was Binn's Park. Typically I try to go with friends, but I decided to go one day sort of last minute so I took the boys and away we went without inviting another soul.

I found the nearby parking garage okay and decided just to park there rather than trying to parallel park my mama minivan. It took us awhile but we finally found a spot in the garage. Then I decided to just exit where I saw an exit and walk around the block or so to get to the park rather than navigate through the parking garage.

When we arrived at the water feature, there were already some kiddos playing in it.

My older boys took off their Crocs and got right in to the water. It wasn't terribly warm that day, but it wasn't cold either.

They had a blast right from the start!

Ryan stood off to the side and had to warm up to the idea for a long while. I remember Joshua being the same way the first time I took him.

Other little ones joined us as we continued to play in the water. I didn't have anything else planned that day, so I let the kids play for a long time.

Little friends came and went. My boys continued to enjoy themselves.

A woman came up at one point who was covered in filth. She took out a small hotel size bottle of shampoo and began to wash her feet and legs in the fountain. She was a beautiful young woman (probably younger than me) and blonde but her eyes looked spaced out. I fear that she was on drugs. I wondered if she was homeless. I didn't ask, though. I was keeping an eye on my boys. But I thought later how sad it was to bath in this area. We are so very blessed to come here just for fun and have a nice house to shower and bathe in!

Eventually, Ryan decided to try and touch the water.

The other kids were soaked!

I had to get a "Mom was here" picture. I wore a workout tech shirt and skirt that were fast drying. I did show Ryan that it was okay to get wet, but I didn't get super soaked.

My boys love the sunshine! And the water! And this is free fun. It's also fun where I don't worry as much as a deep pool where they could drown.

Eventually we left. I'm guessing it was past Ryan's nap time so we decided to go after I took some final pictures (you can continue to see the pictures throughout the post).

When we left, I decided to go into the parking garage entrance that was right there. I thought that it would show me which way to go next time.

Well, I was wrong. I got lost. I should say WE got lost. Really lost. In a parking garage!!!

I had made a mental note of my exact parking row and number and what level we are on. I thought it should be as simple as finding it. I didn't realize that there are two ground levels in that garage - one for Prince Street and one for Orange Street. "Ground" level for the one side is actually level three for the other side. I could NOT find my car. I tried setting off the alarm to no avail - we weren't close enough (we weren't even on the right level!).

My kids were tired of walking around. I was also getting cranky. Finally I found an exit. I decided to walk out and get my bearings on the street, going in the entrance that we came out of to get to the park in the first place. That's when I discovered the difference even in the names of the garage and the floors. UGH! I had prayed we'd find our car and eventually we did. So, all's well that ends well. I drove out without an issue and paid the parking.

I laughed at myself afterward. It takes a really "gifted person" (college professor?) to get lost in a parking garage! Haaa!!! I can only laugh now that we're all home, safe and sound, with my car in my driveway.

We had had a lot of fun. I know we went swimming one last time after the start of school before the pool was closed for good. We were expecting it to be cold, but it was actually lovely. We had a cool streak that felt like fall for awhile and then our temps went back up for our Indian summer. We'll take the sunshine as long as it lasts!