Terrific Tuesday

Today, the kids and I ventured out to our Ward playgroup at Lake Accotink Park. We don't go to playgroup often, and I have made a goal of going more, thinking that if Donovan gets to know the kids in nursery better, he may like it better. We arrived this morning a bit late (shocking, I know) and found that not one person showed up at playgroup this morning. We decided to play anyway, and had a great morning on the monkey bars (warning, grainy cell phone pictures ahead):

in the tunnel:

and watching the workers pull this boat out of the water with a giant crane:

We were pleased that this mom and her daughter standing right underneath the boat being lifted by the giant crane did not get crushed:

The highlight of our morning was definitely finding this butterfly in the grass on our way out. I knew immediately that it was an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Well, to be perfectly honest, I knew what it was about five minutes after coming home with a little help from google. I also learned that this particular butterfly is a female, and it is our state butterfly (who even knew we had a state butterfly?). It was easily the biggest butterfly I have ever seen. Its wingspan was probably around 5 inches.

Avery loved it:

Donovan tried to step on it. We later tried to get him to hold it, but he was having none of that, but at least he would look at it. He's not much of a bug person. I think it's a learned behavior. Whenever I see a bug, I scream and grab the nearest shoe.

In unrelated news:

• Our renters finally moved into our condo. It's a big relief to not be making two house payments every month.
• I'm about ready to give up on potty training Donovan and resuming in a couple of months. He's just not getting it. Avery was potty trained basically within a day, and I'm now realizing that is not the norm. Everyone always says that boys are harder to potty train. I'm not sure if that's the case, or if he's just not ready. We had a good couple of days, but it has all gone downhill. He has several accidents a day, and cries when I try to get him on the potty. I'm not sure it's worth my sanity and his to push it right now. Plus, the whole reason I was potty training in the first place was because I was tired of changing dirty diapers, and let's face it, dirty diapers are much more pleasant to change than dirty underwear. I'll just leave it at that.
• My friend Sharon Pomeroy sent me message today to let me know that there is a Pinkberry knockoff place in town. (Thanks, Sharon!!) I packed up the kids and headed there this evening. I was disappointed that it wasn't open yet, but they look like they're all ready, so I know it will be soon. It has a lot to live up to, but if it can be even close to Pinkberry, I may be able to feed my addiction.
• We took dinner to two of my girlfriends, Bri and Shawna, who just had new babies. I love taking dinner to the new moms, mostly because I get to see the new babies and hear the birth stories. Seeing those sweet little babies almost made me want one of my own sometime soon. Almost.