Sprinkler Tag

I have somehow found myself in charge of my neighborhood's playgroup. Each week we have Playgroup in the Park and invite all the mothers to bring their children and come play. I love playgroup and I really don't mind being in charge except for one little thing...

We have been going to various parks in hopes of finding the PERFECT park. You know, the one that has lots of shade, plenty of grass to roam around on, really great equipment, swings, slides, benches, tons of parking, soda coming out of the water fountains, etc. I didn't think we were asking for too much (except that last bit) but apparently I was wrong.

For a while there we were weighing the importance of the various factors as we checked out nearby parks. Park A has nice equipment, but not enough shade or parking. Park B has plenty of shade and parking, but the slides end approximately three feet from the ground (no kidding!).

Then I finally found it! The PERFECT park. It has shade, great equipment for children of various ages, lots of grass, swings, slides, benches, you name it! (no soda fountain though) So I was very excited and got the word out that playgroup would be at this beautiful oasis.

I arrived at the park and was the first one there as always. To my dismay the sprinkers were running... at 10 AM! I was thinking... "What the...? Aren't they supposed to water AT NIGHT?"

Ok. No problem... the playground equipment isn't wet so we'll just set up our blankets on the wood chips. It will be tight but there is plenty of room. This can still work out, right?

Soon a few other ladies joined me and the kids were having fun. The sprinklers turned off and we all did a happy dance... until another set turned on. No problem... these ones aren't going to get us either, right? I am feeding Eli on our blanket as the sprinkler just misses us. Perfect! We set up in just the right place... um, or not.

We weren't so fortunate the next pass. Eli didn't even blink as he gets showered, he just keeps on chugging his moo-juice. Jonah on the other had is very surprised and not too pleased. As for me, I was actually thinking that this was getting pretty comical.

So we were going to move to the other side of the play equipment because it was still dry, when "Psshhh!" the sprinklers turned on all around us. So we made a run for it!

We moved over to the smaller equipment (didn't I tell you this park is PERFECT?) and ended up sitting on our blankets which were spread out on the nice soft cement. Ahhh!


I don't think that the day at the park was a total loss... and it sure was exciting! The kids had fun playing together on the little playground. As for the moms, we spent the next hour in fear of the hiss of sprinklers and pondering who on earth waters the grass in a public park during the day?