(not so) still life

I have been lacking in posting, I want to try to catch up with some photos of life in general lately.  These give a pretty good snapshot of our family life.

This is the park near our house, which was recently damaged in a big windstorm, unfortunately.  It lost a huge shade tree, which I assume is what fell on the playground and damaged it.  The kids have loved climbing through this tunnel since they were really little.

Here they are on the slide, along with a good friend we hang out with a lot.  My two are wearing fleece hats that I made for them!

This is a different day, walking to the same park.  Tadpole has her favorite stuffed money snuggled under a blanket in her push-cart.

This photo is the train tracks behind our local food co-op, where we do the majority of our food shopping. The kids were totally fascinated by this machinery that was (and still is, I think) sitting on the tracks.

Sitting at the counter eating store-baked cookies at the co-op.  Yum.

The co-op has an awesome kids area with books and refillable washable markers for coloring, along with educational worksheets to color.  My kids have always loved this area, and it's a great place for them to hang out while I'm waiting in line or paying.

Another picture taken at the co-op, this time outside on the patio.  They now carry local Straus creamery soft-serve ice cream!  Unfortunately, the only flavor available that day was chocolate, and since brown is not either yellow or pink (the color requirements for my kids for ice cream), we went inside to pick some single servings from the freezer.  We often eat lunch here, and usually sit outside on the patio.  I grab this table whenever I can, since the kids are fascinated by the vegetable mosaic.  On this particular day, we rode our bikes, and Tadpole is so attached to her new bike helmet that she doesn't like to take it off once she's put it on for the day.

This is another picture that represents a great memory for me of my children's childhood.  On weekend mornings, we often leave the house early, before Papi gets up, and go downtown to have a bagel at our local bagel place, Posh bagels.  We bring some toys, and the kids are usually happy to munch and play for a long time.  They love bagels - I usually get whole wheat with plain cream cheese.  I really enjoy these quiet early mornings with my two favorite munchkins.  In the summer, we sometimes take our bagels out to one of the nearby fountains or plazas to enjoy the morning sunshine.

These are three places that really define our daily lives here, places that make me happy and feel very much a part of our community.  Other places include the library, our Farmer's Market, our local baby shop (which my kids are quickly growing out of), our hardware and garden stores, and in the summer, our public pools.  Not to mention several other nearby playgrounds.  Our town is a really great place to raise kids, and I love living here.  I try to appreciate what we have here every day, and I feel blessed.