Note to self...don't schedule too much stuff on an outing trip!

Seriously, how super cool is that?

Yesterday the husband was here for the weekend, while we work this marriage stuff out. He's gotten really into retro shaving stuff, old style razors, etc. so we wanted to go to some vintage shops and flea markets to see what we could see. But before that we wanted to take the boy to this awesome park I found that is comprised of a giant play structure THAT IS A PIRATE SHIP! There was also a huge sand pit (the boy's favorite feature of the whole park).

Huuuuuge slug!

He was quite enamored with the giant leaves but
wouldn't touch them because they were wet and slimy

I can't say enough cool things about this park, and it's a little hidden gem so I almost don't even want to say the name of it (like this blog has an insane following or something, ha!) but I'd hate to show up one day and have it be crawling with people. 

I'll see you later, slide...

The entire play surface is recycled rubber and is uber soft, something I especially liked since my pregnant butt could sit at the sloped edge of the sand pit near Woodchuck while he played and not be uncomfortable. There also is protected wetland all around the park so we walked in a little wooded area and heard and saw birds. Lots of older people were out walking their dogs, Woodchuck especially enjoyed the dog watching. 

He also went across a little bridge on one of the play structures. It didn't have as much play in it as most playground bridges too, and didn't bounce a lot, so he went across it three times. We were so proud of him and praised him boisterously for going across the bridge at all when he was scared, but then running back across when he felt safe. This is a big thing for Woodchuck!

The sandpit was definitely the hit of the park.

From there we went to a new shop called Curiosities, and while they had no razors they did have a huge display of die cast cars (the average price of which was about $48 so Woodchuck was getting quite upset he couldn't touch). I did score him a little bag of hot wheels with some older and vintage cars for only $7.50, there was 12-15 cars in there so that was a nice little score. The BEST part of this shop though, was finding a vintage fruit crate that had a steam train on the end for only $8. Of course, Woodchuck loves steam trains and one of his Christmas presents is a bunch of art supplies-- new brushes and paint and crayons and sticker activity books, markers, you get it. I was still needing to get a basket to put all this stuff in, instead of individually wrapping everything (sensory kids, at least my sensory kid, does not enjoy unwrapping a ton of things and gets frustrated) so I figured a couple baskets of stuff and his wrapped books and we'd have an enjoyable Christmas morning. The baskets around here either weren't what I was looking for or ridiculous overpriced (can someone explain just why wicker is so bloody expensive?) so I was especially tickled with this find.

We next went to a huge, cluttered and kinda ratty flea market. Woodchuck was nearing nap time, he had only eaten pretzels and half of a milk so he was starting to lose his patience. He is overwhelmed by visually cluttered spaces, I should have known better than to take him in here. The husband and I agreed this will be a lone wolf hobby for him from now on, as it's too much for Woodchuck's sensory issues to handle.

Fast forward past a 20 minute nap, waking up upon arriving home, refusing to go back to sleep. He was a bit of a mess the rest of the day and nighttime, OY! It was a nightmare. He went to sleep fairly okay but woke up a half hour later, and didn't go back to sleep for over an hour. He was a complete mess, twitching, crying and screaming, not settling down. It was a direct result of the super-stimulating day. If he only gets a short nap and can't work through the sensory stimulation of the morning he wakes up grumpy and everything causes a meltdown. Yesterday was a prime example but bedtime was the absolute worst part of the whole day. All through the night he also had to be touching me, curled in my arms like a squirrel, holding a piece of my hair, some connection to me. It made for a very un-restful sleep.

I hope tonight is better. We were planning on going to the pumpkin patch that has a little ride-on train but decided to parlay that until next weekend for fear of a repeat of last night. So we're going to go back to the pirate park today and that will be the extent of our festivities.