Serendipitous Finds

This morning I took Anders back to the playground group he has been signed up for in St. Louis Park through their Parks & Recreation program. It's only $7 for the two months it runs, so we didn't mind doing it even though we weren't going to be living near there for long. Nils and I ran some errands. Afterward, we had a picnic lunch at a park in Golden Valley.

As we were driving home, we saw Golden Valley Parks & Rec.'s mobile Puppet Playhouse. We discovered the park it was pulling into for an afternoon show (a couple days a week they take it to a handful of parks in the morning and another group of them in the afternoon). So we stayed to watch the show (they "lip synced to a few Disney songs--Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King).

Then we discovered that after the puppet show the local police and fire departments were showing up for some community exposure. They did a brief (honestly--like two minutes at most) spiel about fire and bicycle safety. Then the fire truck hooked up the hose and became a giant sprinkler for the kids. They also gave out frisbees, pizza, ice cream novelties and bottled water. I missed out on getting some work done around the house, but it was one of those fun discoveries that we weren't planning on doing. We also found a splash pad close to our house (a few friends had mentioned it) that we'll have to check out another day.

It's those unplanned, unknown discoveries that make special moments (and even lead to some lasting traditions). May you have the same serendipity in your life (and be sure to share what you're discovering).