Playdate with New Friends

So there's no denying that I've been a little down in the dumps lately about more than one good friend moving away from Pittsburgh. However, I am excited to have found a new friend in Jenni, another young mom who struck up a conversation with me back in March at a playground not far from where we live. (Because of how we met, Brett has dubbed her "Jenni from the Park", a la JLo's "Jenny from the Block".) Jenni has two sons, Landon (5) and Cooper (3), and at the time she was very pregnant with her daughter, Raegan (now almost 4 months). We invited the three of them over to play not long afterward. Though the boys had a blast and the mommies hit it off, too, between having babies, traveling, and just general busy-ness, we hadn't been able to make another meetup happen since then. 

After lots of back-and-forth via text messages and Facebook, today we finally had plans to re-connect for a playdate at North Park. Despite how long it's been, Kaiser remembered Landon and Cooper and was so excited to see them again! We arrived a few minutes before Jenni and the boys, so we copped a squat in the shade of a tree, and Kaiser pulled out some construction trucks he'd brought along and got to work digging. 

 Porter supervised. :)

As soon as they arrived, Landon and Cooper jumped right into playing with trucks.

 Kaiser's kind of guys!

They also spent some time swinging and playing/running around on the equipment while Jenni and I caught up on, oh, the past third of a year. Soon the boys were saying they were hungry, so we went back to our spot to eat some lunch.

 Refueling.

 Sharing some fruit snacks we brought along.

Porter was a bit of a grazer, but ended up putting back quite a lot of food for his lunch, too. Then we followed Kaiser over to a smaller play area and sat on a bench to visit some more with Jenni and Raegan.

 Comfy on Mommy's hip.

While we were busy chatting, Kaiser and Cooper made friends with a couple of older girls who apparently said it was okay for them to borrow their huge bubble wand. They had fun waving it in the air and making big bubbles for quite a while.

So much easier than blowing them!

Meanwhile, Landon swung away...

...sweet Raegan dozed...

...and Porter practiced his standing skills with the support of their cooler.

In return for lending them their bubbles, Kaiser let the the girls borrow his trucks. When they'd had enough of bubble-making, the boys joined in on the construction site.

Fun watching them all play together!

Soon it was time to pack up the excavator, front loaders, dump truck, and concrete mixers and hit the road so that naps would not be missed. We said goodbye to Jenni and her crew, with promises that we'd get together soon -- definitely much, much sooner than the four months it took last time! I hope to find an upcoming weekend evening that we can have their entire family over for dinner. I think Jenni's hubby, Phil, and Brett will get along great. We so look forward to getting to know these new friends better!