Bits and Pieces

A bit of a random update... We've been busy trying out lots of new activities for the last couple weeks. Come to think of it, most have been sports/athletic related (go figure, right?). The first order of business has been something that I've been working on for the last few weeks, and that was to find Henry a new gym to take the place of Gymboree. He's been staying in his class at Gymboree even though he's been technically too old for it for the last six months. At first it was fine, he was still getting a lot out of each class but it was becoming more and more apparent that the classes weren't challenging him any more. So we went on a quest to find a new gym class. After trying out a couple different places, we settled on the Little Gym in Lake Oswego (near Bridgeport). I think it's a great "next step" for him - it combines the pretend play of Gymboree with much more challenging gymnastics. An added bonus is that his dear friend Inari also goes there so he gets a built-in play date every week with her as well.

We also tried out Pump It Up for the first time last week. It's a bunch of those inflatable bouncy houses all in one place. We bought a 4 pass Groupon for it, and boy am I glad we did. There were only about 3 or 4 kids there on the morning we went so I "jumped" right in there with Henry and we both had a blast - and got quite a work out too! The video below is a montage of Henry playing in the various houses and he and I going down one of the big slides. The pictures above are of him climbing a wall there and in the basketball court (where we spent most of our time, as you can imagine).

And finally, I just discovered a fantastic (and free!) weekly program for preschoolers at Tryon Creek State Park. Each week they have a different theme and the park ranger reads the kids a story, leads them in an art project and then takes them on a nature walk all focusing on that theme. Henry had a blast and I am just so disappointed that I only found out about this now that we're entering rainy season! Hopefully we'll be able to get at least another visit or two in before the really cold and wet weather arrives. The two pictures of him at that event show him pointing out a mushroom growing on a nurse log (our theme was mushrooms) and him listening to the ranger tell them about some other mushrooms growing on another log.