Parks, Matthew, and toys

Elsa and I continued the tradition of visiting the Donut Wheel that Matthew and I have kept up for years, after I moved away. We try to always make time for donuts at least one morning that I'm back. She was being a shy girl and kept stealing glances at Matthew.

Elsa sneaking a peek at Matthew:

 Matthew sneaking a peek at Elsa:

 And then a shared gaze after he won her over with a piece of his chocolate donut.

We hit up a small park after breakfast but it didn't have swings (WHAT PARK DOESN'T HAVE SWINGS!?) so we packed it up and went to good old Memorial Park. 

Swings! And baby ducks!

And scary statues.

And shoulder rides. It was hilarious/totally sad because when Matthew took Elsa off his shoulders, she knocked off his cap and discovered that Matthew has a shaved head and apparently looked completely different to her with no hair. She freaked out. She was covering her eyes with the backs of her hands and saying "I don't like him!!" over and over. She was such a jerk. Poor Matthew. We decided to part ways at this point but as we were pulling away she was still crying but said "Bye friend... bye park".

When we got home we played in my old playhouse that my dad built for me when I was little and I found a bunch of my old favorite toys! It's such a neat feeling to uncover these familiar things that I spent SO many hours playing with after having not seen them for 25+ years. 

All of these guys came from our trips to Norway. Whenever we went to visit my dad's family, my parents would splurge on a few of these for us. I think they were just mine actually, I'm not sure what Jan got. I think they were a European Lego thing because they didn't have them in the States, but they have the Lego legs and arms. If anyone can identify these, let me know!!

And my Sparkle Princess Ponies! I gave away all my ponies and Cabbage Patch dolls a long time ago not thinking I'd ever want them again, but I'm so glad these guys were stashed away in that playhouse. Elsa wasn't too interested in them but she will be one day I bet. I washed them with her baby shampoo so they now smell like her.

My parents are going to be fixing up our old bedrooms to give Elsa a space in their house since she'll be out of the pack n' play the next time we visit, so who knows what else they'll uncover...