A Lovely Day for the Park (with weirdos)

Now, I know you are going to agree with me on this one. Why is it that every time you go to the park there is always that one weird kid? The one who is slightly "off", but his parents still let him run around by himself? They let him attach himself to another family and they think that that's OK? If you have not seen this kid, look for the parent who is twitching or wearing Birkenstocks. Then follow his/her gaze to another family. Look for the kid that is totally obnoxious and you found him! I say "him" because, for us, it is always a boy.

The past two days we went to two different parks because it is really nice outside. Seventy degrees in early April in this area? People come out of the woodwork. Here is what we encountered:

Park #1: Lovely park in Poulsbo on Liberty bay. Grassy area, merry-go-round, swings- you get the picture. Evan and Amelia are playing with their balls and here comes this 3 year old kid who steals Amelia's ball and starts kicking it across the field. His dad finally tells him to give the ball back, but does not reprimand him. This happens over and over, but what do you do? It's such a weird situation. Finally I told John to go get the ball and we'll just put them away. Then on a whole other creepy level, he comes onto our blanket and precedes to rub my arm up and down with both hands. The dad is just standing there smiling. He finally called his son over to him, but a few minutes later he came up to Evan and whipped a wiffle ball at his head from 6 inches away. End day at the park.

Park #2: Even lovlier day at Island Lake Park, just down the road from us. Lake, playground, grassy areas, you get the picture. A 4 year old hits Amelia's ball out of her hands, then gives it back to her. He then starts coughing really bad, whooping cough style. His dad runs over and tells him not to touch her ball because he is sick. Too late asshole! Why is your kid at the park touching the playground? Idiots!!! After he left, another kid, who reminds me of the kid from the day before, latches on to us. He kicks the ball away from my kids. I can hear his mother say to her friend, "He always makes friends wherever we go. He's so amazing." And I don't say anything because it has to be me, right? Am I the one with the problem? End day 2 at the park.

Well, what do you think? Am I crazy to hate on these kids? I would never let my kids do what these kids do. Am I the bit@#??

Anyway, I'm sure this is just going to keep happening because I intend on visiting a different park on every warm day. And there are ALOT of parks out here. Maybe I should write a parks guide book. I will call it "Don't Play With the Weird Ones- A Complete Guide to Kitsap County Parks". I will include a Weird Kid Rating from 1 to 5.

I will leave you with some cute pictures from the parks. I photoshopped the weird kids out (just kidding).