Tag Archives: fun

My Last Run Before 13.1 and Splash Pad Fun

Sunday brought us beautiful weather here in the South, and Going Mom had a great idea to go to a splash pad with Avery. I was planning on going for a run in my Soft Star Dash RunAmoc Shoes. They have a bullhide leather sole instead of the typical rubber sole you find on most shoes.

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Definitely not what you’d picture a running shoe to look like, but they are awesome for the barefoot enthusiast! And not just for running, these things are comfortable around the house and would easily pass for work shoes in the office. Desk jockeys, rejoice! I’ll have a review posted after running the Mother’s Day half-marathon I signed up for.

I haven’t run over 10 miles in over a year, so I’m interested in seeing how I do. Stay posted to find out. My wife will be running the 5k and my mom (G-Ma), will be with Avery watching and cheering us on. Then we’ll go out to enjoy a Mother’s Day brunch together. Big weekend ahead!

But back to this past weekend, running and a splash pad. Kelley drove with Avery to a splash pad a few miles from home and I ran to meet them there. This was Avery’s first splash pad experience, so she was a little unsure of what to make of it at first.

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I showed up not too long after they arrived and Kelley told me how Avery seemed more intrigued by the surrounding grass than the colorful water-spraying structures. Makes sense….NOT! So I decided to swing Avery around one of the sprayers.

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What kid doesn’t love water sprayed in their face? Seriously though, Avery actually got a kick out of it.

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Her smile and laughter is worth more than any sum of money I could imagine! So I continued my earning the riches with more swinging in the water.

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You can see how smart I was by keeping my leather running shoes on while splashing in the water. For some reason, leather soles with no tread don’t provide the best traction on wet surfaces. Hmmm, probably why Soft Star even warns about this! Just had to test them out for a thorough review!

I took a break from swinging Avery around the water streams and my wife took over for a while. First she had to catch the little grass lover who is too quick for her little legs!

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Then back to getting swung around for more toddler soaking madness.

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I swear, that smile, it’s infectious! That goes for my wife’s too! There’s no doubt fun was had by all.

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Of course, Avery seemed a little lost when we set her down to have a go in the pad by herself.

Ummm, Mom....Dad....a little help here?
Ummm, Mom….Dad….a little help here?

Once more, we took turns throwing our daughter around the water like any awesome parent would. First I played helicopter with her as the propeller….

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….and then Going Mom reenacted The Lion King with our girl “Simba”.

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Circle of life, gotta love it. Also gotta love these two….a lot, which I do.

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Avery was getting cold and slightly fussy so it was time to head home. Kelley drove, I ran. With the run there and then back, I totaled about 7 miles, give or take a few tenths of a mile. As expected, traction was limited, but I enjoy running in the Dash RunAmocs thus far.

Once home, the fun didn’t stop there as I had a full-grown lawn to mow. No problem there since mowing with our EGO Power+ Mower took all but 25-30 minutes and I was done. Great way to wind down the weekend for sure. We never watched an episode of The Walking Dead after our date night, but snuck one in on Sunday.

Getting close to the yet-to-be released on Netflix Season 5, what are we to do?! Besides pay for it, I refuse, even though Kelley is threatening to buy it and watch alone.

Oh yeah, Happy Cinco de Mayo……if you care.

Ever take your kids to a splash pad?

Would you wear leather-soled shoes to go running or just in general?

What do you think wait for The Walking Dead Season 5 to come out on Netflix or give in and pay $27 for instant gratification?

Friends and Strangers at the Bounce House

Have you ever been to a bounce house? Think of those giant inflatables that fill the backyards of homes for a kids’ birthday party, only it’s all indoors and filled with 10+ giant inflatables! In other words, a kids’ (and most adults’) wonderland!

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As part of our Dallas Dads Group, I scheduled a Meetup at a local bounce house called Jump For Fun (fitting name I’d say) for us dads to gather and have fun with our kids. We had 4 dads attend, including me, and we each had one kid. It was hard to sit and talk with the other guys since I had to keep my eyes on Avery. She was all over the place!

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Okay, so not first, but she started moving after warming up to her surroundings.

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Until I put her inside one of the inflatables……

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Yeah, that was her first and last time in that one. Not sure what made her so upset, but I blame her current teething issue as the main culprit. Once back out on the floor though, her mood changed back to happy status.

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But we obviously didn’t go to a bounce house to run around the floor, so grabbed Avery and we went through several of the fun-filled obstacles together. She was confused at times, but I could tell she enjoyed it overall. But man, it was difficult trying to traverse some of the slippery inflatable steps with Avery in one arm! Regardless, we did it plenty of times, and even took on Batman!

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He was all talk. One of our neighborhood dads and friends, Jason, was there with his daughter, Zoey, and we took turns taking our girls down a giant slide.

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Avery, with her cutting teeth, had her hand in her mouth most of the time we were there. Nothing a little tickling can’t do to fix the hand-in-mouth issue.

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Jason and Zoey were able to go up and down several times in the time it took us to go once.

 

 

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Zoey is older and she was having a blast running all over the place. Notice, no hands in mouth for her since she has all her teeth!

While wondering around, Avery made a new, older, friend who seemed to like picking her up.

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Seemed sweet and innocent enough, until she dropped her like a hot potato!

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I guess they made up though, and the girl was more careful afterward.

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I don’t know if it was the trauma of being dropped, her cutting teeth, or just because she’s a sweetheart, but Avery went up to a lady sitting on a bench, took the magazine sitting next to her, and held it up as if asking her to read it. The kind mom of two boys, Katie, kindly held Avery in her lap and read a little. Avery seemed to enjoy.

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Everyone had a great time and we’re hoping to make the place a regular meetup for our Dallas Dads Group soon. Maybe next time Avery won’t be in the middle of teething and actually smile for a picture.

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Eh, it wasn’t crying, so I’ll consider it a win in my book. Whatever book that is, I don’t know. I’m happy with the group of dads that met up and hope to be able to talk with them more next time. Which, thanks to our awesome group, we’ll have the chance plenty of times in the near and distant future!

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Avery had a very nice nap after we made it home. Think we need to do this a lot more!

If you have been to a bounce house or one of the backyard parties with an inflatable, how do you like them?

Do you join in on the jumping or just watch?

 

What Happens When You Put Ivory Soap in the Microwave?

Have you tried this easy experiment that only requires a bar of Ivory soap, a microwaveable plate, and a microwave?

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Simply put it in the microwave for a minute and a half and watch as the rectangular bar of soap transforms into something 6 times its size! I first saw it on the Happy Hooligans website and have been itching to try it myself.

 

I have yet to try the experiment, but I did track down the science behind why the Ivory soap. Read the how and why here.

As the site explains, Ivory soap is one of the few brands that float in water because it has air pumped into it during the manufacturing process. If you didn’t want to click on the link, here’s the part about why it expands in the microwave:

This is actually very similar to what happens when popcorn pops or when you try to microwave a marshmallow. Those air bubbles in the soap (or the popcorn kernels or the marshmallow) contain water. Water is also caught up in the matrix of the soap itself. The expanding effect is caused when the water is heated by the microwave. The water vaporizes, forming bubbles, and the heat causes trapped air to expand. Likewise, the heat causes the soap itself to soften and become pliable.

This effect is actually a demonstration of Charles’ Law. Charles’ Law states that as the temperature of a gas increases, so does its volume. When the soap is heated, the molecules of air in the soap move quickly, causing them to move far away from each other. This causes the soap to puff up and expand to an enormous size. Other brands of soap without whipped air tend to heat up and melt in the microwave.

– See more at: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/soap-souffle#sthash.GgEOxeIG.dpuf

And here’s his video if you’d rather just keep it safe and watch online…

This is definitely something I’ll do when Avery gets just a little older and doesn’t try to eat everything she touches. Part of the fun is getting to feel how the soap has changed after being nuked. Apparently, it easily crumbles and can even be used to make homemade laundry detergent!

If you haven’t already, try this with your kids and have the guess what will happen after the 90 seconds is up.

As a side note, this will fill your room with a pleasant, soapy smell, so try it right after cooking fish or when you just need to freshen up the kitchen! Maybe at your workplace?

What do you think of this easy experiment?

Have you tried or heard of it before?