Family Fun

Yesterday morning when we woke up, Scot rolled over and said, "What would you think about me staying home and having a day with you and the boys?"

What did I think?  Bring it on!

We decided to take the boys down to the Natural History Museum since it had been some time since we'd visited.  We got there just a few minutes before they opened so the boys played on the steps outside while we waited.

Art you can climb on!

Look Ma!  I can do the steps all by myself!

After getting inside, we made a beeline for the dinos - a perennial favorite.  The kids wandered around and played with the interactive parts of the displays.  Jamie did his best T-Rex impression and ran straight to the Triceratops as soon as he caught sight of it.  As always, it was a big hit.

"That's my dead dino!"  "No, it's MINE!"

We tried to see other parts of the museum, but Jamie was having none of it.  He was in a bit of a mood and was doing his best to cause mayhem.  I tried to get the obligatory picture of me and the boys by the stuffed bear but Jamie was refusing to cooperate.  So, I got one with Spud.

We finally decided that things weren't working out and we needed to leave.  We opted to head over to Schenley Plaza to ride the carousel.  It was a gorgeous day so it was a great day to be on the plaza.

On our way over, we stopped to see Dippy and take a few pictures.

"Look!  I can hold up Dippy!"

Once we got to the plaza, we got tokens for the carousel and hopped on to ride.

Don't ask.  I don't know, either.

We came home after that, had some lunch, and put Jamie down for a nap.  While he was sleeping, I went outside and set up our castle play tent, our regular camping tent, and the soccer goals so that the kids could play outside.  Liam came out about half way through set up and started playing with the neighbors.  For most of the afternoon the kids ranged back and forth across our lawn and the neighbor's.  When Jamie woke up, he came out to join us.  We spent hours out there and the kids had a great time.  Eventually, Jamie tired of being outside so I came in with him while Liam stayed out.  I got dinner cooking and we all sat down to eat as a family.

It was a great day filled with quality family time.  I'll take a dozen more like it.

Saturday In The Park

Today was a perfect day.

I don't get to say that very often.  There are lots of very good reasons why that's true so I'm not upset that the bad days outnumber the good but I really cherish the good days when they come.  A perfect day?  Unheard of.

To start the morning off, the kids slept in.  Jamie woke up at 7:30 and Liam didn't come downstairs until almost 8 am.  When I'm used to being up no later than 6:30, this was like sleeping in until noon.  Scot got up a bit later and he took the boys on a run for Starbucks and Loafer's cinnamon bread.  (French Toast for breakfast tomorrow!)

We puttered around the house for most of the morning and I ran out to return the kids' library books.  It was gorgeous out.  Summer days like today are very rare.  Perfect temperature.  Little to no humidity.  A wonderful breeze and perfect blue skies.  I came home knowing that we had to get outside with the kids today.  It was too pretty a day to waste.

We settled on taking the kids to Hartwood Acres for a picnic.  We packed up food, some toys, and portable music and headed out for some family fun.

We lounged and ate:

Jamie decided that he would have a cup o' "joe":

There were light saber fights:

and noogies:

We blew bubbles:

and played ball:

There were smiles and fun all around:

After we left the park, we came home and Jamie and I napped while Scot and Liam watched some Star Wars.  When Jamie got up, I set to work getting dinner made and we managed to sit down to a meal together - a meal in which we all. ate. the. same. thing.  With Mr. Pickypants (aka Liam) in the house, I'm almost always preparing more than one meal.

The kids played until bedtime and then it was off to bath and bedtime routines.  They both went to bed without trouble and Scot and I were left with some time to ourselves.

It's been the best day of the summer so far and I don't want to forget a single moment of it.