Green and Parks

I haven't fulfilled all the promises of fun I made to Miah about this summer, but it's only been two days. Today we visited the penny arcade in Manitou Springs as an excuse to get outside, push some buttons, and delight in blinky lights. We also managed to punch out a few yellow ducks and make a clown dance to the tune of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm". We wasted a few quarters until Miah settled the fact that she does not like it when toys are in motion--unless someone else is riding the toy--she just wants to sit in the cars and turn the wheel, or pull levers in the spaceship, or desperately grip the reins of a horse.

Should I be worried that Miah fearlessly holds up her arms to any adult and appeals for a hug? She may whine at that mom's kid for having more fun than she is (because she is scared of the activity), then sweetly dish out a hug to the said mom. And the mom just wraps her up, sticks her in middle of all the children, and offers her lunch. I don't quite understand this dynamic of the park, treating every kid as though their your own. Maybe it's Manitou or maybe it's me who's never been to the park during the work week.

Again, maybe it's just Manitou, but I have never seen a playground built for group effort. There's the concept of a seesaw that can seat four kids and use the grunt work of up to four adults and then the swing set has saucers that hold about four kids each. It's efficient I guess.

Before we made it home, we stopped at Bona Dea for some tea. Interesting place, but good teas. In addition to loose leaf teas, we walked away with samples of green chocolate--delicious! Miah was too tired for me stick around and inquire about the idea of chocolate being green. I have been through chocolate classes and read entire books on the subject of chocolate and nowhere was there a mention of green. It's a misnomer as it turns out. A cursory google search uncovers the new food fashion of combining matcha powder with chocolate, ergo green chocolate. While I find it a winning combination, I also have to explain that I like the taste of green: Green tea, Odwalla Superfood, Moutere Grove Olive Oil, and now green chocolate.

When we got home Miah devoured a half of her first PB&J sandwhich. She thought it would be fun at first to pretend that she didn't like it, but when I turned my back to put the tea kettle on to boil, she started to stuff her face.