Never What You Expect

Yesterday the temperature reached 70! (Insert choir of angels singing here). Ever since I saw this idea, I've been waiting for a nice day, so Dylan and I could go to a certain park with a stream. He loves to throw rocks in the stream, and it is a beautiful park. When he woke up from his nap, I told him to get a bucket - that we were going to the park to collect rocks. Man, you would have thought I said, "From now on we are going to eat only cookies, all the time"! He was excited. I was excited. I had a picture of the perfect fall day in my head.

I would say that one of the biggest lessons I've learned from having a child is this - you have to be flexible. Things rarely go as planned. As a matter of fact, do they ever? We got to the park and it was closed. Closed!?! Since when are parks closed? That is just ridiculous. They had fenced off the entrance and there was a sign saying "No admittance. Park closed for season". I was going to park nearby and climb over the fence (What?), but there was no where to park.

After explaining things to a very understanding Dylan, I turned the car around and headed to another park. I also realized that I hadn't brought my good camera (Canon), just the small one that I hate, that always takes horrible pictures. So much for my perfect fall day.

But, then I had an idea. "Dylan, why don't we stop and get subs and have a picnic at the park?" He shouted "YEA!! I LOVE PICNICS!!", and that was it. Perfect fall day back in business. We had a picnic in the sun, chased each other through the leaves, had races on the slides, and drew letters in the dirt. And, somehow, my crappy small camera took these pictures...

Family Time Is Good

My friend, Julia, amazes me. She has four girls under age 6. Her oldest is five, the twins are 3, and her youngest is 21 months. Not only does Julia do the normal "mom" stuff, but she does the "extra" stuff. She takes them to the library to get books, videos, and CD's. She takes them to classes. Her and her husband take them CAMPING! I KNOW! And, they have fun, God bless them! Not only that, but she makes these adorable videos of their trips, and posts them on her blog. Since I am a big sappy sap, I get teary eyed watching them.

I've been feeling stressed, overwhelmed, discombobulated lately. Let's not go into why, but I was feeling a bit unglued. Jim has been feeling it, too. This weekend, though, we stopped. (Well, as much as a person can stop when living with a "very active" toddler.) We spent the whole weekend as a family. Saturday, we were invited to a little girl's 3rd birthday party, at a farm. Sunday, we drove up into the mountains, to Ohiopyle, and took in the amazing colors of the leaves. I felt better. Breathing in the fresh air, and watching my two guys laughing, I felt lucky. This weekend needed a video. So, here it is. (Thanks for the inspiration, Julia).

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