Railroad Park, our second home

I know you are going to be shocked -- absolutely SHOCKED -- to hear that we went back to Railroad Park recently. If our kids knew how to cook and weren't so curious about what having a baby sister is going to be like, I think they'd just leave us behind and move downtown to a loft so they could go to Railroad Park whenever they wanted to.

And while I realize that these pictures are going to look recycled, because you've seen some almost exactly like them several times before, I am here to tell you: a lot of our LIFE feels recycled.

Do you ever feel that way? Like you do the same things over again, with minor variations, to the point where it all blends together in a way?

I mean, how many times can you skateboard over the same ramp on a 94-degree day?

Apparently the answer to that question is "THOUSANDS."

And how many times can you happily throw rocks off a ledge while your brothers are skateboarding?

Also roughly THOUSANDS, although only about 2,499 of those without whining. Still, you've gotta give him credit. He gets the short end of the Planned Activity Stick a good portion of the time, and keeps a smile on his face for most of it.

Nick seems to be our more naturally gifted skateboarder at the moment -- or perhaps he's just the one who's more willing to endure the bumps and scrapes that come with experimentation than Nathaniel is. (That's most likely the case.)

So Nathaniel now enjoys taking his bike to Railroad and attempting the ramps on his bike.

I tried to get Nick to switch to his bike for a while, but no dice.

The response was more along the lines of, "NO. AND TAKE A PICTURE OF ME DOING THIS COOL THING ON MY SKATEBOARD."

Which was fine. So we watched him on the skateboard and Nathaniel on the bike for at least an hour.

Quite frankly, when I was their age, I would have wanted to do the same thing for hours on end, so it was hard to argue with them. Even though I WAS roasting like a pregnant rotisserie chicken. It was made slightly more bearable by the view out over the park ... the day was slightly overcast, but it's still a beautiful place to spend a day.

At one point, we tried to convince Nathaniel to try this big ramp (which, if I had a bike and wasn't pregnant, I would have tried in a hot second), and he got to the top but then refused to go down.

I would never have encouraged him to do it if I weren't confident in his biking skills, but I also don't believe in forcing him to do it just because I know he can. If he HAD fallen off, he would have been mad at me, not at himself. Best to leave it for another day.

Eventually we moved across the street to the park proper, where the boys both decided to try the Bike Bowls. They'd tried them on their skateboards before and had fallen off, but they fared much better on their bikes.

It was so much fun to see them fly down into the bowls and back up the other side!

I was so proud of Nathaniel because he actually tried it first, with no prodding from me, and he got it on the very first time. Then he absolutely couldn't be stopped.

Once he saw Nathaniel do it, Nicholas couldn't be held back.

He sped down into the bowl like Mighty Mouse on a bike and pedaled furiously to the other side.

It's deeper than it looks in these pictures ... it's about five feet deep and the edges go almost straight down. But they were champs!

Despite the heat, we stayed well-hydrated and had a great time ... I'm sure it won't be long until we're there again. Can't believe this Fall we'll have a baby girl in tow!