Of course, it's been there all along, but since I've spent most of our time here pregnant, and therefore exhausted, and we haven't yet completely fenced in the back (we still need to divide front from back to keep babies from escaping into the street), I haven't taken Abby or Michael out there nearly as often as I should. In fact, I could count on one hand the number of times that I've tried it, to my shame.
However, now that Abby knows what adventures await her out there, I'm sure she'll do her part to motivate me. Especially after today.
Our neighbor-friends, who sadly will be moving far away soon, have passed down their climbing set to us as a parting gift, with a promise from us in return that we will pass it on again someday in the future. Yesterday, all of the pieces were delivered to us, and today, they were put together.
For Abby, it was love (and static) at first sight.
She particularly enjoyed the slide, first descending it in the "old-fashioned way..."
... before making an attempt to ascend it, instead.
Though she thankfully never pushed off head-first and belly-down, she did enjoy the view from her perch at the top of her pretty pink slide.
Michael showed some initial interest in the door at one end of the structure (he loves to open and close things), but soon resumed his exploration of the yard itself, when he wasn't making repeated attempts to break out into the front yard...
... or occasionally being tackled by his sister.
It kills me that even with a bit of sharpening in editing, I still couldn't quite salvage this picture. In my haste to capture it, I focused on the background wildflowers instead of my children. Though it was not the only picture to have suffered such a fate, it's the one I most regret having missed an opportunity on. Oh well. Live and learn, right? And the flowers sure are pretty (well, they were before I over-sharpened everything)...
Michael, by the way, started off in a nice, warm hoodie, just like his sister.
However, by the time the climbing structure was put together, he had pulled this little trick:
A troublemaker-in-training, for sure.
I actually took many more shots worth sharing as the kids ran freely through the yard prior to the revelation of the "big surprise," but they'll have to wait for a post on another day. My littlest baby is still rather fussy, and this mama is plenty tired.
