Steve & I had decided on getting Noah this big playground type thing for his birthday. It was expensive, but it’s something he’d use for the next several summers. Then we found another one that was similar (Little Tikes 8-in-1 Adjustable Playground), but a little cheaper, and I was ecstatic! THEN, the item was no longer available on amazon.com, which is where we’re definitely buying from because we can get free shipping. The shipping on those big items is insanely high since they’re so big & heavy. Basically, we were back at square one.

The main thing I’m concerned about is making sure I have lots of outdoor activities for him to do this summer. He is an outdoor kid for sure and he loves to climb & play in the water, anything outside is really OK for him in general. So I looked around at Toys R’ Us, One Step Ahead, Amazon, etc. and we’ve found several things we like, I’m just not 100% sure about any of them. I thought a sand and water table would be cool. He would love to play in sand and water both, but then I read some reviews on those about how kids turn them from sand and water to mud & mud! And I could easily see Noah doing that. I then saw this adorable little “Anchors Away” water table type thing and it’s in the shape of a Pirate ship and has all these cute little things to do all around the table. Lots of areas for multiple kids to play with it and lots of water, too unlike several other sand/water combos that I saw where the water was sparce. So I think we may go with that just because it’s his type of thing, it has lots of areas to play with, AND his birthday party is pirate themed anyway! Haha.. I thought that was funny. We’re going a tad far with the pirate stuff at this point, but it’s all too cute, what can I say? I even found him the cutest pair of swim shorts that are blue & navy striped with a pirate ship picture on one of the legs! It was on sale at the Gap & I had a gift card, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to get them.. and I got him a little navy polo so he can wear the whole outfit at his party. I realize it’s swim shorts but they look a lot like normal shorts really and it’s cute with the polo.. really..

Anyway, back to the birthday present situation- I THINK we’re going to go with that water table and possibly get a sand table separately. We definitely want to get one of the sand tables that is on legs and doesn’t sit on the ground and kill all your grass. We found one that’s not too bad and has a lid and all that. We still don’t have anything for him to really climb on though, which is what is bothering me the most. I would love to get him one of these climber playground sets with a slide & all.. he’d love it and it would be something he could climb all over without me having to have my hands out ready to catch him at any second b/c he may fall! That’s how it is at the local playground (Deming). It’s a great playground but it’s geared toward older kids for the most part and I have to follow him all over the place to make sure he doesn’t try to climb on anything that isn’t safe. So I’d love to have something at home that he’d have free reign of and I wouldn’t have to be his shadow, ya know? *sigh*… O’well, maybe once it’s summer we’ll just see how it’s going with the water & sand table and his other outdoor toys and if he needs something more to do we’ll think about it then. Decisions, Decisions… 

If any of you moms out there have a suggestion of something great that your children love to play with outside, please let me know!