At the playground
One nice feature of our house is the playground just beyond the backyard. Our backyard is up against a church (and not just any church — a huuuuuuge church), which is usually not an issue; every once in a while there’s a loud afternoon event and we can hear kids playing and the PA system inside our house, though for the most part we haven’t had any problems. The benefit is that the church has a playground with lots of fun stuff, and it’s a quick 15-second walk to get there. Most of the time it’s not crowded, and especially the times we want to use it, it’s completely empty.
Now that the weather is getting nicer, and Esme is more mobile, we’ll definitely be taking advantage of this more. As the video here shows, she’s able to climb up and go down the slide all by herself without Mom or Dad. While it’s nice to see her making strides like this — and we’re looking forward to the day when she can entertain herself there by playing unsupervised — a little part of us is sad that our baby is growing up so fast.