Life is back to normal here. Bettie is doing great and is much more content now than when she wasn't hearing. She is responding to many different tones and even whispers now. I am so happy that she is hearing well! Thank you to everyone who has offered help and sent their positive thoughts and prayers our way!

We've been on the go, go, go as usual. A fantastic birthday party, visiting grandparents, feeding the horses, a day trip to Monterey, riding the train in Los Gatos, babysitting four kids under 3 for a morning, hiking plus all of the usual playdates & appointments.

We drove to Monterey to take the kids to the famous Dennis the Menace park. It was our first time and we were amazed at how incredibly fun it was. Admission and parking were free too. Score!

Most of the parks these days are pretty boring. They all have sand, tan bark, 2 swings and some variation of the standard play structure. In our litigious society, everything has to be ultra safe (read: boring) because some parents will sue anyone and everyone if their kid gets hurt while playing even though it's their responsibility to ensure the safety of their child. Don't even get me started! LOL

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that Dennis the Menace park is different. They have a huge steam engine for kids to climb all over. You can climb inside, underneath & on top of this incredible piece of machinery. Nothing was roped off or toddler-proofed and it was a lot of fun. The kids were amazed and we were too!

 

The ultra-long suspension bridge was a big hit



When you get to the top of the hill, a big twisty slide brings you right back down to the playground. Cool!
(Bettie is at the top of the slide & Quade is at the bottom)
 

Their first time on a dual level roller slide




Quade liked the space mountain tunnel that connected two of the play structures


After all of that running around, Mommy needed some Peet's coffee!