2.2.10: Playground

(left to right: stella, daphne, fiona)

Another triplet mom suggested we meet at an indoor playground to get all the kids together for a playdate. I was hesitant but decided to give it a try. I figured if anyone would understand if I had to cancel at the last minute or leave five minutes after arriving, she would. I spent a good week thinking (and rehearsing in my head) how the day would go.

Here is a breakdown of our adventure:

Wake up from afternoon nap 15 minutes early
Feed everyone
Change everyone
Bring everyone downstairs
Put shoes and socks on (six feet takes time)
Put daphne and fiona into stroller
Put stella into bjorn (she is the smallest and therefore easiest to carry)
Get downstairs into the garage with stroller and kids
Load stella into her car seat
Remove bjorn
Load daphne and fiona into their car seats
Collapse stroller and load into trunk
Get me into the car and prepared to drive
Drive (get slightly lost, maybe)
Arrive at destination
Find perfect street parking right in front of playground
Parellel park
Avoid traffic and get out of car
Put on bjorn
Get stroller out of the trunk
Load daphne and fiona into the stroller
Strategically load stella into the bjorn when there was a break in traffic
Go inside the playground
Take off shoes
Push stroller into the play area
Unload stella, daphne and fiona into play castle (yes total time in stroller upon arrival was less than the time it took to get them all into place)
Attempt to play
Attempt to chat with other parents and kids
Attempt to chat with other triplet mom

After about an hour, I decided we were done. I confirmed this was a reasonable first showing for the girls with the other triplet mom. The girls did pretty well. There was a little bit of whimpering but you could tell they were just in an unfamiliar environment. Of course, many of the kids/parents were leaning over the castle watching the girls. I think all of the new faces were a little much for them. But we did it and that was the important part.

Now it was time to prepare to go home:

Find everything I took out of the diaper bag
Put daphne and fiona into stroller
Put stella into bjorn
Push stroller into play area entrance
Put on shoes (this is a tough one with bjorn on - mental note, need slip-on shoes)
Load daphne and fiona into car seats
Load stella into car seat (again avoiding traffic)
Collapse stroller and load into trunk
Remove bjorn
Get me into the car and prepared to drive
Drive (take scenic route as kids were pretty calm)
Arrive at home
Put on bjorn
Get stroller out of the trunk
Load daphne and fiona into the stroller
Load stella into the bjorn
Get from the garage into the house
Unload kids from stroller
Pass out!

This was the first time I took the girls out in the car to a location, spent time at a location and then took them home all on my own. A seemingly simple task for most, but for me - a huge accomplishment. I have conquered the daily walks, next up - adventures in the car. Man, I am glad we live where we do and I have plenty of places to walk to, I was exhausted!