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The Playground Rant

Those who know me have heard this one before, likely in a long-form rant full of ethos and fury.  And it's common theme in modern parenting (just ask this terrible book: Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry which I read in my short "I should read books about being a parent before we have Milo" phase)

Today's playgrounds suck.

Many of the greatest playgrounds I had growing up are now miniature versions of their former glory.  Two story winding slides are now three foot tall plastic quarter turns.  Ladders turned into short staircases.  Chain bridges lost their sway.  The gravel became rubber. Roller slides rolled away.
Actually, I'm OK with the last two.  Rubber gravel is eco-friendly and awesome, and roller slides are creepy.  I had a job in a factory where there were these stick-figure safety signs illustrating the many ways to get mangled.  One such picture was pulled straight out of the head of a seven-year-old-me mid-roller-slide.  Not pretty.
All of the playgrounds I had growing up worth sharing with a seven-year-old Milo have gone away.
But something I saw recently gave me faith that all is not lost.  I just got back from a trip to Indiana, PA to see my wife's sister and family.  One playground on the grounds of IUP was both new, safe, and awesome.  Cue the evidence:

Exhibit 1: Unbalanced Teeter Totter.  Notice the imaginitive and inviting design, but rounded corners and lack of pinch points.  Someone could get thrown onto the soft, rubber ground, but that's about the worst-case scenario.

Exhibit 2: The Spinning Bowl.  The yellow bit in the bottom left is a bowl, 45 degrees off-level that spins.  Notice how you can put dangerously too many people on it and spin yourself silly.  The adult's hand is reaching for the ground because he's concerned that he's spun himself too silly.  That hand might be all that's standing between him and the Hindenburg.  

This thing rocked.  I even heard it made Austin (the two year old here) toss his cookies on a previous trip.

Exhibit 3: Rock Climbing Wall.  I paid to go to a place that had a bunch of adult sized stuff like this.  When I was there, I had to have a spotter, a harness, and a stern talking to about safety.  Need I say more?

Exhibit 4: Lookout Spot.  Fun, colorful, but totally safe.  I can imagine working this little hut into a game, but I can't imagine a way to get hurt.  Milo concurs.

In short, this playground has given me hope that we can solve the big problems that Milo's generation is going to face.  

Chance of rain somewhat higher than expected

The chance of rain has increased to 100%.

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Hole being cut, 30% chance of rain

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2.5 days of work

We're 2.5 days into the new window project, and we're finally doing something window related. That's the first cut of a brand new house-hole.
Notice the well lit room? Those are two of the four new lights in that room. Scope creep!
This is what I do when the other human occupants of my house are out.

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Silver Spoon

Milo tried to use silverware for the first time today. turns out it doesn't well when breastfeeding.

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Father's Day is better than my birthday

I didn't have big expectations for Father's Day.  I'm not huge into holidays, especially not ones in my honor.  I'm not embarrassed or anything, I just have always thought if you wanted to tell someone they're special, don't wait for a holiday.
Well, that philosophy is dead.  I want more holidays, just like this, in my honor.  My wife went out of her way to be spectacular today.  The day started out with me mowing the yard...OK, that part was my own doing.  It's hot out.  I'm not mowing the yard in the evening...but after that we went to The Westside Local for brunch.  Hadn't ever been there, but that place has what it takes to displace Potpie's as my favorite restaurant.  One of the things we ordered was 'French Butter' for the Waffle.  It came with butter already, but they offered a whole separate butter on the menu.  Don't know what makes the butter 'French' but when we ran out of waffle to eat with the butter, we just ate the butter. 

Biscuits and Gravy, Frittata, Hash, Waffle, and French Butter.  

We then went to Shawnee Mission Park.  Megan's intent was to Frisbee Golf there, but it was pretty freaking hot, and Milo's putt is pretty terrible, so we went down by the lake and lounged under that tree on the right instead.

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We spent a couple hours watching sailboats go by.  (Milo if you're reading this, which you're not because you can't read, we're totally going on one of those sailboats a few Father's Day's from now).

Finally, we got home and Megan had not only made a delicious lemon cream pie, but written a lovely blog post.  Thanks for the whole day.  If I'd know Father's Day would be so sweet, I would have had Milo years ago.