We’re continuing to enjoy the last moments of summer as the weather cranks the heat up to near 100 as the dogs days are (hopefully) on their way out. On Saturday morning, I took Hannah down to H.W. Banner Park to celebrate Emmett’s birthday. The splash pad was in full use for the kids to run around and get wet for a little while, and there were a dozen or two total kids running around, making use of the playground, swings, soccer field, and a beach umbrella as the party got started. Jolene brought along a shark piñata, and I managed to find a couple of sticks for the kids to use to whack it open. Hannah enjoyed playing a bit with the remnants of the piñata with another girl before we headed home.

A few days later, we took advantage of a 95+ degree day and took the kids down to Mahoney State Park to spend a couple hours at their aquatic center. We’d originally hoped for another trip to Fun Plex, but they closed early this season because of Covid, so this seemed like an adequate alternative. Vivian and I had come here on our anniversary back in ’13, and it was fun letting the kids experience the violent wave pool (which Aaron and I fought together) and the speedy pair of water slides that had essentially no line on a weekday. They were only open for a couple hours, but we made use of every minute before calling it a day.