SAND!!

i remember after we moved to oregon and had our first child i wanted to take nani to the park. so, i set out to find the perfect park. i drove to the first park and was horrified to find, not sand, but bark chips on the ground. so, i loaded her back into the car and drove to the second park, only to find the same thing, bark chips. i loaded her up again and headed to the third park and found, for a third time, bark chips! i was thinking, "what is up with all the bark chips!?" i was a little perturbed by this point. all i wanted was to find a park for my daughter to play at that had sand. now, i was bound and determined to find a sand park. after trying two or three more parks, i dejectedly gave up my quest for a sand park and let her play at the bark chips park.

it was beyond me to think that there was no sand at any of these parks. what were these people thinking??!! you can't have a park without sand! growing up in newport beach, ca, all of the parks ONLY had sand. sand makes sense to me! bark chips?? no sense! think of the slivers! i never even knew that there was such a thing as bark chips before i moved to oregon.

later that week, i talked to a friend of mine who had grown up in oregon and i asked her where i could find a park with sand. she looked at me and said, "there are no parks with sand." "what?! no parks with sand?! you've gotta be kidding me!" she wasn't, there really are no parks with sand (well, there is one at the rose garden park, but that is too far away and the playstructure isn't built over the sand, there is just a sand box to play in). i couldn't believe it! who makes a park without sand?! apparently oregonians do!

well, our second child, lala, truly is a my child. that girl LOVES sand! anytime we are at a child's play area, like omsi or sea world, that has sand, you will find her happily playing. when we went to omsi back in june she was in the sand box for almost 2 hours straight. when we were at sea world in "shamu's happy harbor" she wanted to go immediately to the sand box, while nani and her cousins went on the bridges and water area and climbing ropes. today we went to the park by my parent's house and before leaving she excitedly asked, "is it the park with the sand?"

place lala in sand and she is one happy girl!!

at omsi:

at sea world:



at the dunes beach:




today at the park:




that's my sand baby!