New Berlin Park Series: Gatewood Park

We tried out another small neighborhood park (Gatewood Park near Orchard Lane Elementary) in New Berlin last week after a big rain storm. The wood chips kind of sunk down when we walked on them. Very wet! Miss V was happy as ever to be exploring though! 

She doesn't even wait for me anymore: just takes off and conquers! 

Big kid

She again had some shoe issues but took care of it no problem!

Dont want sandal weather to end!

She was playing with another kid and kept waiting at the bottom of the slide to "catch" her. This kid was probably 4 or 5 LOL

She also kept getting distracted by the school buses driving by

And to end our park trip: some wildlife enjoying the puddles!

Play-doh

How do you spell play-doh? That is the first question I was curious about when beginning this post :) So many variations. The official brand is play-doh so that is what I'm going with! Curious Miss V got some for her birthday in August and we've only used it once so with a cooler start to the morning yesterday...we got out the play-doh and got to work!

I know there's more in there...

Anyone else have trouble getting this darn stuff out of the containers? V saw me smack it on the counter to get some out and she of course had to try to!

We had to make a butterfly to match her shirt and her name of course!

She has a mini rolling pin for making creations but it was mostly used for making holes/circles in the play-doh!

concentrating 

I would say half of the time was spent taking the lids off and on the containers! Refer back to this post where I suggest she may be an engineer or builder when she grows up! 

When we video chatted with Grandma that night, Violet kept wanting to show the "squishy squashy" to her and was pointing to the cabinet where I thought she had not seen me hide it- oh boy!

Here is a link to an edible play-doh recipe we tried a few months ago!

Hales Corners Park

I know why we still haven't finished the New Berlin Park Series...because we keep going to parks that are not in New Berlin!! Hales Corners Park was a good detour as it is all in shade in the afternoons! Miss V loved it. It was the perfect size for her and she could do all the steps/slides to her hearts content. 

Cutie!

There were some fun moving bridges and other things to explore too.

obligatory (messy) hair pic

She always is so excited to do the swings and we usually do them first. But she only lasts a minute or two now before she wants to climb climb climb and slide slide slide!

Miss V dislikes anything sticking to her feet so wood chips are not her favorite. Usually she whines and says "my foot" if she needs help wiping off her foot. This day however, she just plopped down, took off her shoe and did it all on her own. Hallelujah! 

And of course, we have to end with the strange animal rides. At least these were a little more enclosed. She actually did enjoy rocking back and forth for about 10 seconds on each LOL

Silly girl

A warm start to fall has been so awesome! Hoping we have another month of good afternoon park weather to go!

Elmo (And Curious Miss V) Visit the Trampoline Park

Our plans of visiting the apple orchard this weekend feel through because of the rain so we decided to check out Sesame Street Toddler Time at Sky Zone Trampoline Park! Miss V does not quite have the hang of jumping off the ground with two feet so she was a little unsure at first but absolutely loved sitting and getting bounced by Grandma or I and holding hands with Grandma to jump.

She also thought crawling around the perimeter was lots of fun as well as the cool new orange socks.

There were crafts to do and photo-ops galore. V thoroughly enjoyed getting to use markers and was not at all afraid of the characters. Hopefully that bodes well for Santa pictures this year ;)

She actually knows what "say cheese" means now!

And she certainly has a good set of lungs!

hair pic :)

Look Mom! It's Elmo and Cookie Monster!

When we went back to jumping the second time, she was all in. She went exploring and was dancing and doing her hopping with one foot at a time method. 

slam dunk!

Thanks Grandma Diane for coming with! We had a blast!!

New Berlin Park Series: Valley View Park

We have crossed another New Berlin Park off our list! We visited Valley View Park which actually has two playgrounds. Curious Miss V loved the extra space to explore as well as a fun bridge!

When she says "bridge" it sounds like "fridge" LOL

I don't really want to stop and say cheese Mom but ok...

Curious about what is under there!

Hmmm, I'm curious about this too, Mom.

We enjoyed the big fields and wooded areas at this park. On the playgrounds, Miss V of course loved the swings but was very interested in climbing everything she possibly could; even if her legs weren't quite long enough!

It's not that big Mom!

Ok... now what?

I did stand behind her for this one and she got all the way up!

Best thing to climb on...stairs leading to slides!

No more obligatory diaper butt pic...so I think I'll call it a hair pic! Super light-colored in the sun with maybe a hint of red?!

This slide was actually a step down from the main stairs so after getting all the way up, she then had to figure out how to go down one to get to the slide. She has not quite mastered walking down stairs yet, so she resorted to the sitting method- ha!

Finally made it! Ready set go!

Hi at the bottom! This whole sequence literally took 5 minutes!

It wouldn't be a park series post without some strange animals to sit on. Curious Miss V was not overly impressed with the selections ;)

A horse-zebra?

Can turtles really even be ridden?!

Last but not least, V had to check out the steering wheel section and the big curvy slide. She definitely requested that I hold her hand for that one but she did make it down!

It was another beautiful park visit...looking forward to more this fall!