1) Let the kids wake up whenever they feel like it.
2) Get everyone fed and dressed.
3) Head out to Pleasant Grove to visit friends.
4) Stay until we feel like coming home.
5) Drive home.
Simple. Concise. Flexible. Something to look forward to!
Today, I wondered why I bother making plans.
9:15
The last of the kids finally wakes up. We finish breakfast and start getting everybody dressed. I get everybody excited about going to visit friends. I pack up the diaper bag for a full day away from home. I print off directions to our destination. I load up the kids and we start our adventure.
9:46
I turn out of my neighborhood and head toward the freeway. I grab my cell phone to call my friend and let her know we're on the road. (Yes, I talk on my phone while I drive. Don't judge me.) I speak with her huband, who informs me she has food poisoning and that today is not the best day to visit. I break the bad news to the boys, and hearing their disappointment, I call Daddy to see if he has any great ideas. I decide a trip North to Layton to go see other friends might just be the trick. I make the phone call (pulled safely to the side of the road this time) and make plans to meet at the Layton Park at 1:45. Kids are excited, but what to do for the next 4 hours. Hmmm. I suggest going home so Dylan can get a good nap. Adam vetoes that idea. Instead, at Adam's suggestion, we drive to go visit his cousin, Ryan.
10:05
We arrive at Ryan's house, and I quickly get Dylan down for a morning nap. As the kids play, I decide it might be fun to go visit Grandma at work. She works in the kitchen at Granger High School, and whenever we go visit her, we get free lunch.
11:30
We get to Grandma's school, and she is pleasantly surprised to see us. The kids eat pizza and chicken nuggets and chocolate milk, and Grandma even sends them away with Creamies.
12:05
We still have nearly nearly 2 hours until the appointed Layton Park meeting time. What to do? A quick text to Daddy, and we've made plans to go steal Daddy from work for his lunch break. I present options to the kids: walk around stores (Gateway), really big library (The City Library), or Temple Square. They choose the really big library. We grab Daddy and drive the 2 blocks to the library. I recount my day to Daddy and explain that we're "just going wherever the wind blows us." Then I turn into the parking garage for the library. Adam says, "Is this where the wind blew us?" I laugh and respond in the affirmative. Then he says, "But it didn't really blow us here, right? You drove." I laugh again. We get a ticket for the parking garage and decide our visit must be under 30 minutes, because I don't want to pay to park. We quickly tour the library, thoroughly enjoying the glass "alligators" (my dad's word for elevator), the outdoor fountains, and the basement level of the library, awesomely outfitted for little ones. If you've never been there, that place is so cool it can serve as a reward for reading! We will definately be going back.
1:08
We pull out of the parking garage and drop Daddy back off at work. We drive down North Temple on our way to the freeway, and the kids expressed their excitement at seeing the temple. "I know it's the temple, cuz there's an angel on top!" We hit the freeway and head North, finally on our way to the day's ultimate destination.
1:26
I decide I ought to check my phone for messages since I'd left it in the car at the library. 4 missed calls! 2 messages! I listen and find out my Layton friend isn't going to be able to make it to the park after all. Her oldest son broke his glasses on the playground at school and she was going to have to take him to get them fixed. I break the bad news to the kids. I am informed that I promised them friends, and can't I call someone else? Back on the phone with Daddy again, I ask him to look up the number for an old college roommate of mine. Keep in mind, we've never actually hung out, but we blog-stalk each other and I know she has kids the age of mine. And I know she lives in Bountiful. And I'm now in Bountiful. I leave her an awkward message and explain to the kids that she wasn't home. "Can we just drive around until we find something to do?" Sure. Why not. Thankfully we quickly found a park.
By this time, Dylan was asleep for nap #2, and I didn't want to disturb him. I sat on a stone wall near the car so I could listen for him and watch the others as they played. When he woke up, we joined the fun. It may not have been the day we planned, but it was still fun.
3:02
We hit the road to head back home.
4:02
Daddy gets home and Adam tells him, "Well, we sure didn't get to have any fun today."
4 comments:
LOL! I guess you can't have fun without friends. I feel bed that you went through so much only to be told that it wasn't a fun time. :o( Kids! What are you supposed to do with them?
I hope today is a better day for you.
Way to make the best of your day even though you had two cancellations. I could have never driven around like that with Brielle because she doesn't sleep well out of her crib.
Pff... thanks for calling us to come play. :) Sounds like you did pretty well for such a crazy day.
Hey, I wrote on the bairds blogs to add you, so hopefully they will :)
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