The second weekend after Amanda got back from Ohio, she turned right around again and headed to North Carolina. She has been planning a college roommate reunion for quite some time, and had long since purchased the tickets for it. So I was alone with the kids again for a long (4 day) weekend. Here is the daily log:
Day 1: Brought Amanda to the airport at 4:30am. The kids actually went back to sleep when we got home, and even slept in! Great start to the day (a bit more sleep). For breakfast I made blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes (1/2 of each). We all loved it! Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were lunch. Then for dinner I bought Save Mart chicken fingers and wings, along with broccoli salad, ambrosia salad, and hawaiian sweet rolls. They scarfed that down too. Not a very exciting day really, but it wasn't bad either, especially since all of the meals were successfully enjoyed by all.
Day 2: Had the men's group over (only 2 guys this week), then had Amanda's left over french toast casserole for breakfast (the kids didn't like it so much, but I loved it). Then we attempted to go to Wacky Tacky, but they were only letting parties in (birthdays or whatever). The kids and me were pretty disappointed, especially since they were looking forward to it all morning.
So we changed gears and decided to go to Whitney Park instead, which has the biggest play gym equipment that I have ever seen. I noticed a Buick T-Type in the parking lot when we pulled in, and as we were parking, I noticed a gentlemen walking toward it with his son. So I went over and asked if I could show the car to Lucas, since it's almost exactly like the vehicle that we're building the model of (a Grand National). He was happy to show it off. After playing at the park for a while, we brought our cache of left-over tokens (from Clara's birthday) to Chuck-E-Cheese, and ate lunch there too.
After nap was in the books, we went to get hair cuts (Lucas, Clara and me), followed up by renting Rango from RedBox and watching half of it while eating our smoothie dinner (with crackers, cheese, and bologna). Then I gave the kids a bath and got them to bed at (gulp) 9:30pm.
Day 3: We finished watching Rango this morning, then had a hodgepodge breakfast of cereal, eggs, english muffins, and strawberries. We then headed over to the Effie Yeaw Nature Center from 11:00 - 2:00. The kids enjoyed it, but it was a bit of a long hike for them. We came home famished and had hot dogs with sauerkraut, beans, dried snap peas, and chips for lunch. Unfortunately, Clara caught a short (15 - 20 minute) nap on the drive back, which caused her to not be able to nap at home, which sucked for me and made her a bit cranky the rest of the day.
When everyone else was awake from their nap, we transferred all of the old sandbox sand into the basketball hoop, then washed out the sand box. When it's dry tomorrow then we can add the new sand. The girls were playing in the little pools while Lucas and I added one layer of paint onto his GN model. Clara had taken off her diaper though and ended up pooping on the floor of the backyard. We ended the day with Panda Express for dinner (Lucas' idea), then a scoop of ice cream at home for dessert. I probably should have given them a bath, but hated to get them to bed later (was already just after 9pm) and had just given them one yesterday.
Day 4: Brought the kids to Wacky Tacky in the morning. I think I got us there sometime between 10:30 and 11:00. I brought my laptop and set up a table to try to get work stuff done while they played. I had to take breaks though to a) make sure they were alright, b) give them snacks and water (I remembered to bring both), c) take care of Clara when she got hurt a couple of times and d) play with them a bit too, especially in the spongy ball pit. We stayed until between 1:00 - 1:30. I think we had PBandJ again for lunch, along with some other healthy sides like cheese, yogurt, canned peaches, and cherries.
After nap, it was time to get to business. First we hit Big5 sporting goods to pick up a regulation frisbee (175grams) and 8 cones to possibly play Ultimate Frisbee with the high school kids tomorrow (Tuesday) night. Then we deposited a couple of checks and stopped at Boston Market for dinner. Before giving them an evening bath, we dumped two bags of new sand into the sandbox. After bath it was time to start cleaning the house so it will look good for Amanda when she gets home. Clean up went smoother this time, especially since there was more time to get it done.
I got the kids to bed around 9pm, just before Tammy came over to hang out while I went to pick up Amanda from the airport. As before, her plane arrived early so I had to pick her up at the ramp instead of meeting her as she came down the escalator like I would prefer.
Summary: As a whole, I think this weekend with the kids went smoother than the last one. I took the kids to do one fun thing per day, and I made a concerted effort not to raise my voice or lose my temper as much.
No comments:
Post a Comment