Snowy weekend

My parents came up to visit this weekend, and fortunately were able to get home again without getting stuck. At the recommendation of a friend, we took ARR to The Great Story, an indoor playground kind of thing in South Hackensack. ARR had a great time, although some hits were more predictable than others. He was less interested in the climbing structure than might have been expected--he's less obsessed these days with climbing things when other toys are available. The trampolines were more interesting for rolling around on than actually bouncing--he's not that big on jumping for some reason. We spent a ton of time on the car and train tables, which was entirely predictable. Also spent a few minutes on the giant dollhouse. Belle took a bath (fully clothed) and then she and another unidentified princess took naps. (Both facedown, which seems like a really weird way to lay a doll down, except that he sleeps on his belly and has since we stopped swaddling him.)

The big winner, though, was the ballpit. It wasn't even a particularly big one--basically the size of our baby jail, reinforced with zip ties and filled with balls. But ARR is the child who will make me tip over a crawling tube at Gymboree, drop him at the bottom, and drop a couple of balls on his head. He likes being wedged in tight places and he loves small balls. Being put in a small container with thousands of balls? He would spend five minutes at a time just wallowing, squealing with glee. Then go do something else...and come back to wallow some more.

Yesterday we finally killed the sled. Got a good bunch of rides out of it, though, before it went. We rebuilt the sled runs down the gazebo steps, along with another family. ARR was delighted. By the time we were done, there were chunks missing from the bottom of the sled, so it leaked snow as we pulled it home. At least we're putting the endless rounds of snow to good use.