Our winter has been pretty cold this year and our lives have been a little busier than usual so the opportunity to get out and play has been hampered. We have made several trips to local restaurant playgrounds to take advantage of the double benefit of food and play. In general, Emily is shy and slow to try new things that require effort and risk. Once inside a playground area Emily wants to play with all the kids and boss them around. She still is slow to try new things and doesn’t always play in the equipment, but she enjoys being loud and interacting with others. Julia is also shy, but pretty daring when given an idea of the possibilities.

Today, we stopped at a playground and got some energy out. Emily loved playing with two older girls (ages 6 and 8). They were only able to coax her once to the high portions of the playground, but she was very good at getting them to play on a lower slide with her. The girls were really taken with Julia. We got Julia to crawl up the three platforms to the lower slide. Once she had experienced it once I couldn’t keep her off of the equipment. It was really funny to watch this toddler crawl up the platforms and peer into the slide tunnel with such joy. I would grab her at the top (good thing I’m tall and could stretch the whole tunnel) to help her sit down to slide. She didn’t care what direction she came down the slide as long as she was coming. If I can guess what the future holds I’m willing to guess that Julia is going to be coaxing Emily into doing risky things in just a little while.

Mommy and Baby in the Snow, originally uploaded by Robby Edwards.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, February 2007

My Girls in the Snow
Originally uploaded by Robby Edwards.

It has been snowing up in the mountains lately, so Rachelle and I thought we’d take Emily for a drive and see if we couldn’t find any snow. We did find a blanket of beautiful white snow once we reached Newfound Gap, although there was a dusting of snow in various places throughout the park.

Once we reached Newfound Gap, we took Emily out of the car for a quick photo-op. Neither Emily nor her mommy was thrilled with the cold temperature.