Single Dad Day 2 of 6

Well, it is day 2 here at the Masherah household while Tania is off in Chicago. Tania isn't really used to this situation (Her on the road and me home with Isabelle). My guess is that she doesn't think we will survive without her and I am not sure who she is more worried about me or Isabelle.

Anyway, the day went great. Isabelle and I took a trip to Quail Botanical Gardens this morning. It is only about a mile away and everyone keeps talking about taking their kids. I have always thought, "Why would a toddler enjoy a botanical garden?" Now I know.

The beginning of the garden by the children's area was decorated with a netted butterfly and some rocks. This seemed innocent enough which is why it didn't hold Isabelle's attention very long.

Next there was a little sand area with shovels, dump trucks, sifters and pots and pans. While Isabelle enjoyed this, sandboxes are a dime a dozen to her since they are in every park we take here too. The only new thing is now every time Isabelle goes near a sand box, she makes us take off her shoes.

This was the shocker of the day and caused the one casualty. Adjacent to the sandbox area, there is a large art area that contains two giant chalkboards, two crayon easels and two painting easels as well as a table with small paint brushes. Isabelle loves to paint (apparently a skill she has mastered at daycare) so much so that she bolted to the board before I could get a smock on her. She spent a ton of time going back and forth from the easels to the table. The one casualty, I am pretty sure the shirt is a goner although it provided Isabelle a nice place to wipe her hands.



Isabelle took a brief break to go back to the sand area when she realized this cabin was there. Cool part about the cabin is that you can take out all the planks and build it any way you like.

Once I got Isabelle out of the paint area, she discovered the treehouse. Although she didn't explore the whole treehouse because of the numerous stairs, she did play on this rope net and the suspension bridge for a while. I was surprised to see that she was able to climb this rope ladder to the top.

The grand finale before we left was this small stream littered with plastic boats. Isabelle loved playing in the stream and running up and down it. Although she got soaked, I didn't mind as it washed a bit of the paint away. If you look closely, you can see that her hands are completely purple. She loved running in the stream so much that she kept tripping on those same rocks over and over again.

Well, that was just the morning today and everyone survived. I think we are doing alright here at home. Two days down, four to go. Now I just need to figure out how to watch football tomorrow........

Bet Tania wasn't expecting a blog post either!