It's for the dogs

Tom thought it would be great to take the kids to the opening of a new dog park. Lukas would LOVE to have a dog (he asks about getting one several times a month) and I know Natalie and Konrad would ask for one if they could...but a dog is one more living thing that has to be fed and cleaned up after, and I'm not willing to do that for an animal until all the kids can feed themselves and don't have to be diapered. And there is that thing about Lukas' allergies. His allergist has warned us that getting a dog might send Lukas over the edge. So we're in no hurry.

They loved playing with the dogs (Lukas knows he must ask each owner if it's ok if he pets their dog). There was also a guy with dogs he had trained to play soccer with the kids. It took Lukas about five seconds to warm up to the idea (he was not immediately interested). And Natalie loved running after the dogs, trying to pet them...she kicked the ball a few times, but that was less interesting than petting the dogs, and the dogs had no interest in being petted...they only wanted to challenge you to soccer scrimmage.

It was a great outing! The kids got their "dog fix" and afterwards we went to a playground... very necessary after having been cooped up with the rain the past week.