We had nothing on the calendar for the weekend. I mean nothing - the little squares were all clear. Next week starts dance, football, TKD, soccer, you name it. But this weekend - nada. So what did we do? We filled it.
We started Friday evening with the member movie night at the zoo. They were showing Rio, and I needed to get the kids out of my house. So, we loaded up four kids and two grandmas and headed over. The zoo holds these evening about six times each summer, and they're fantastic. We picked up Wendy's on the way in and had a picnic.
Then, the zoo employees kept the kids occupied for about two hours with games and prizes.
Then, we settled down for the movie at dusk. What a great evening!
On Saturday morning, we slept until 9:30. No kidding - Sophie, Tony and I got to sleep in because the boys were so quiet! Tony took Andrew and Aidan to the pool and Sophie and I went to the grocery. Then, we headed to church. Surprise, surprise - one of my friends from Girls' State was at 5:00 Mass! She's from Tipton, Indiana so the odds of her just showing up were slim. Apparently she's been filling in for someone from her company down here on the weekends and going to our church. We took her to see another friend of ours that lives here as well, and all kinds of squealing ensued. It made my evening!
Once all the excitement was over, we took the kids to the zoo again. On Saturday night they had a member night in the new Glacier Run exhibit. We got to see the brown bears, but missed seeing the baby polar bear. On our walk to the exhibit, we also got to see my favorite animal, the snow leopard. You almost never see it moving around in the heat, but the evening weather was perfect.
The kids enjoyed their snacks after seeing the animals.
Well, maybe not Sophie. She pitched a great big two year old fit over how much lemonade was in her glass.
But, then it was over and she was happy again.
Tony has been really interested in joining the Secular Franciscans. I'm not sure I can explain it fully, so you might click the link for more information. It's basically a fraternity or group for lay people who wish to take vows to follow the teachings of St. Francis. I'm also hoping to join with him. Today, the group had a meeting at one of the member's houseboats at Patoka Lake. The boat was AMAZING! They live on the boat year round and had it custom built. It's gorgeously decorated and has three bedrooms, two baths and a couple of "bonus" rooms. It's probably bigger than my house, and definitely nicer and cleaner. Anyhow, we arrived earlier than everyone else, so Gary offered to take us out on the smaller boat and let the boys go tubing. What nice people - Tony had only met them once before. The kids were in seventh heaven, especially Sophie who wanted to go on a boat so bad. I guess I have taken all this for granted - I kind of grew up on the water in the summer time and my kids haven't had that opportunity. I hadn't realized how much I missed it. So, my new long-term dream purchase is a boat.
Sophie was all smiles when we were in the "no wake" zone. Then, we sped up. She was so upset with the wind blowing in her face. She kept waving her arms around and making these horrible faces because she couldn't open her eyes. Horrible mother that I am, I couldn't stop laughing long enough to turn her back to the wind.
She became a happier child once we stopped to try out the tube.
The boys have never been tubing. I wasn't sure what to expect - I thought they might wimp out. However, both of them flopped into the lake like they had fins. I was SO proud - but a little part of me wanted to snatch them back out of the water. It doesn't seem like they should be old enough to do something like that. Oh, to be young and fearless. I know I jumped on and off of boats at their age, but still. They each got two turns. Aidan was a little nervous on his first turn, so Tony rode with him the second time. By their second turns, both of them were willing to go at pretty high speeds and were weaving back and forth like pros.
Look at that newly missing front tooth! He's having a ball!
On the way back, Sophie got to sit behind the window to keep the wind out of her face. She also got to "drive". I'm not going to lie - this was the smallest boat I've ever been on save a canoe, and I was a little skittish at the speeds we were traveling with my babies on board. Again, a new-found appreciation for my parents' fears. It makes a nice slow pontoon look pretty doggone good.
After we got back to the houseboat, the boys swam off the back of the boat for awhile. Again, heart attacks for mom. They jumped off the boat, rode a slide from the top of the boat, and even jumped from the tip top of the boat. I had to go inside. I didn't swim because Sophie wanted no part of swimming in the lake. She likes to see her toes and touch the bottom, thank you very much.
We ate lunch and then had a short meeting before we headed home. I'm excited about becoming a part of the Secular Franciscans. Everyone was so nice and welcoming, and Tony and I will get to spend some time together learning and exploring our faith.
The other thing I realized this weekend was that I was not expecting to be an outdoorsy adult. As a kid, I was always outside with both sides of the family. Whether I was fishing, hiking and camping with Mom and Dad or out on the boat at Rough River with Daddy, I spent a lot of time getting dirty. I didn't really expect to do that after I got married - I mean, it just didn't seem like Tony's thing. And we haven't, up until the past year. But after the Cub Scout camping, our Holiday World adventure and today's boat time, I'm beginning remember how great it was to be outside. I love that the boys are old enough to just run and play. We've got a couple of dates scheduled to camp with some friends this fall, and I'm actually looking forward to it. Amazing what a day on the water can do...
No comments:
Post a Comment