The past month has been tough for me. It’s been a combination of things….work is crazy busy, not enough time to do the basic things such as cooking, grocery shopping, laundry, tidying the house, paying bills, and other paperwork, Avery and Emerson being very testy. I would find myself getting annoyed with them and not enjoying and appreciating them like I should. I was seeing the weeds and failing to see the flowers. I knew I needed to snap out of it, but constantly feeling like there was so much to do and so little time to do it all on, made it hard to simply snap out of it.
I don’t know what occurred but Sunday morning I woke up feeling refreshed and like my old self again. I wish I could say it was the good night sleep I had but I can say with certainty that was not the case. The morning started with some cuddles that I thoroughly enjoyed and after breakfast the whole family took a few minutes to play and be silly in Harper’s room. Even though we had somewhere to go and a specific time we wanted to leave, I took the time to just stop for a minute and enjoy the fun family time we were having in Harper’s room!
Our plan for the day was to go to Frying Pan Park. We hadn’t been there since spring of last year. Wow, what a difference a year makes! For one we had three kids now instead of two! Emerson was very much into seeing the animals. Avery was still scared of the animals at first, but she wasn’t petrified as in years past and she did emerge from the stroller to attempt to face her fears and would actually get super excited when she saw an animal. Avery would see an animal, point to it with such enthusiasm, but then moments later be ready to move on to the next thing.
Emerson was quite content to watch the animals. It was really neat to just see her take it all in. She was not at all afraid even when the goat stuck his head through the gate and started eating the stroller.
Harper had a great time getting out and walking around!
We saw cows, baby calf, sheep, goats, pigs, lots of baby pigs, a horse, peacocks, and chickens. We explored the dairy and old house from late 1800’s. When we were in the dairy, I was trying to explain what a dairy was. Since Avery loved milk, it was the perfect opportunity to explain where milk comes from. When I told her milk comes from cows, she kindly added on “and mommy’s boobies.”
We even attempted to capture all three girls in the same picture together. Who said you needed to see faces to have a good picture!
And then it was time for Mommy and Daddy to get into the picture too (separately that is).
After we had made our rounds of the animals, the girls wanted to drive the tractors. They were having a great time.
Avery even drove me to the airport. Now this is what I call first class!
Next time Harper…next time!
We attempted to go on the merry-go-round twice. It only runs 15 minutes past the hour. We didn’t know that the first time as we were watching it go around. Basically we just missed it. We weren’t certain if we were going to be around an hour later for the next one. Turns out we were but we were too far away at the time and the girls don’t quite understand what making a mad dash for it would have meant, so we promised them for next time.
Once the merry go round didn’t happen, we let Avery and Emerson play on the playground. Harper meanwhile had fallen asleep in her stroller. They were having a great time. They were being KIDS and it just warms my heart to see them running around, laughing, and playing with one another.
Next time Harper….next time.
We weren’t planning on eating lunch out but it was getting close to lunch time so we decided to try out Gordon’s Grill, which is on the premises. It’s basically fries, burgers, dogs, chicken nuggets, etc….nothing at all remotely healthy. It was reasonably priced so we gave it a try. Justin and I had the barbeque….it was okay. The fries were so deep fried that honestly Justin (who doesn’t discriminate too often when it comes to fries) and Emerson (who doesn’t discriminate too often when it comes to food) knew that these fries weren’t even worth eating and we ended up throwing some of them away.
Later that afternoon we took the girls over to my parents to go swimming. It was around Harper’s second nap time and while part of me felt guilty for not taking her in, I knew that Justin and I would be able to concentrate on Avery and Emerson more this time if it was two on two versus three on three. (Yeah, my dad was there but you know how that goes!). Anyway, the girls had a great time in the pool and every time they go in they seem to get more and more comfortable with the water.
Next time Harper, next time.