Backyardigans Story

On the long weekend of September we decided to take the boys to Storybook Gardens (which Isaiah called Backyardigans Story all day - likely confused because he's already pretty excited to attend the Backyardigans concert in October). We'd been meaning to go all summer, but many of our plans never materialized - we always seem to get busy doing nothing really. Anyhow, we ended up going with Stacey and her boys, Mateo and Sebastian, and our cousins: Janice and Shorty and their daughter Jasmine, too, which made for a better experience for the boys, I think!

Storybook hasn't really changed much over the years, as I haven't been there since my own childhood. The play equipment is much advanced, and the kids took advantage of the great day to play on three different sets. Both of them are fairly skilled at climbing and sliding, but it was a full time job trying to follow them around and make sure they were safe, particularly as the park was rather busy. Braylon and Isaiah both loved the slides, and climbing the different levels.

As for the animals, the boys were pretty excited to see the different "attractions" - though I'd say the variety and numbers aren't by any means impressive, even for a toddler. Braylon has a fascination for ducks right now, so he was the first to notice them all wading in the mucky water. The peacocks were a hit too, as were the three seals (even though they never did surface on the rocks for a good picture).

The new feature - the splash pad - was of far greater interest, especially as it was a hot day. Well, that is for all the kids except Braylon. He's very cautious by nature, so he was reluctant to be convinced of its advantages. Daddy tried to coax him in, and got pretty wet in the process, but Braylon wanted none of the unexpected sprays. Eventually he was entertained in a "limited spray" area, but Isaiah and his cousins were running around through the water all afternoon!

The boys are, thankfully, relatively easy to please as well. Even though Braylon wanted nothing to do with the water, he was easily entertained in the stroller. He finds the smallest things hilarious, and his laugh is something I wish I could bottle and store for years. It is the most adorable sound. I kept him busy in the shade (since I was 11 days overdue at that point), tickling him and whatnot. He is such a ham!

Isaiah was thankfully easily coerced out of his wet clothes since he has a genuine affection for his cousin Jasmine, and wanted to dote on her for awhile. So that allowed us to get ready to finish the route through the park...

...which we finished off with the typical picture with Humpty Dumpty.

Afterward we took them over for a train ride, which of course was a favourite too. The boys were first in line, watching intently as the train made its way round the course, anxious for it to return and pick them up. Both of them were happy to ride 'round the park, except of course when Braylon caught sight of the geese (which he still calls ducks too, since we go to the conservation area on a regular basis to feed the ducks here, where there are both ducks and geese). At that point, he wanted off that train to chase the geese (which always makes me incredibly nervous because I don't trust geese at all...).

This is Braylon exclaiming repeatedly, "Duckies, duckies, duckies!" and then chasing after them!

All in all it was a great day, and the boys were happy to get out of our normal every day routine. Hopefully now that Caleb has arrived (which I'll blog about soon, I promise) we can still get out and do things, as the boys really enjoy new adventures!