Since this blog has become my journal, I’m doing another day-in-the-life post. Here’s how I spent the 24 hours between 7 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday:
Our babysitter came at 7 p.m., and my husband and I finished getting ready for the welcome-back-to-school parents’ party for our younger two’s preschool. We had a good time catching up with people. We start to put down roots here. This was our fourth annual parents’ party, and thanks to baby #4’s impending arrival, it looks like we’ll be going to at least 5 more. We were among the last to leave the party, though since we’re all parents of preschoolers, this meant we got home at 11. We managed to watch one taped episode of The Daily Show before falling asleep around midnight.
This morning I woke up at 7:45 a.m. when my 7-year-old came in. I got him breakfast, then left for my run. I mostly ran for 50 minutes (about 4 miles; I did some walking), including along a trail nearby. The morning was gorgeous if a bit humid. I enjoyed my coffee, eggs, and duck bacon (!) after.
My husband took our 2-year-old to soccer at the YMCA. She absolutely loves it, so it’s exciting that she’ll be starting a “Soccer Shots” program at preschool this week too. The boys couldn’t be motivated to get to church, and I didn’t feel like fighting, so I decided to make a bourbon apple cake (recipe from Real Simple). Then we hung out in my office. The boys made various drawings of original Pokemon cards and I worked on the Book-Formerly-Known-As-Mosaic until the apple cake came out of the oven around 11:30. We ate it. Yum.
Eventually the others came home for lunch. We ate, had a little quiet time, then got in the backyard pool. It was a nice day, which made us glad we haven’t closed it yet. We did crank the temperature up to 88 degrees. The 2-year-old wanted to get out and go take a nap in the middle, so I took her inside, and then it was much more relaxing to swim, so I stayed in the pool for a while, staring at the clouds and the overgrown vegetation.
We puttered around for a bit until eventually I took the 7-year-old for a walk at the Riverbend Environmental Center nearby. He showed me the trails and where he liked to hunt for “magic rocks” in the river when he went to day camp there this summer. We did find magic rocks (see photo)! These are possibly bits of smashed pottery from summer camp but whatever. It is pretty magical to find something like this when you are 7 years old and playing in a little stream.
We came home to find my husband starting the grill. We had hamburgers and I cooked carrots from the garden. I also made a tomato, red onion, and blue cheese salad featuring garden tomatoes.
After, I made the kids try on the outfits I’d bought for the professional photos I’m having taken next weekend. We snapped some candids. There may be one shot out of 25 featuring all 3 looking at the camera. The photographer has his work cut out for him.
Then the kids wanted back in the pool. I didn’t, but my husband figured why not take advantage of the already-heated-to-88-degrees water. It will likely chill down a lot tonight. So 7 p.m. found us back out there. I stood on the side, watching them play and watching the sun go down. Autumn is coming. Some of the leaves are turning mottled, and one of the trees near Riverbend was already red. But there are still a few days left to eke out summer fun.
How was your weekend?
We spent the weekend at the Oregon coast taking long walks on the beach and truly relaxing. September is one of the most beautiful months here.
@Linda M – I tend to think of September as an under appreciated month in general. I guess it’s viewed as very busy, but the natural world is just about perfect out here. Still very green but with a touch of color, and no longer horribly hot. Perfect for running and biking!
Glad to hear your family is enjoying time together. We keep meaning to stop by the YMCA near our house but manage to make it there every 2 out of 5 times we intend.
We spent the weekend hunting for houses and tidying up the apartment. Apartment living becomes a lot less frustrating when the end is in sight.
@Chrissy – it’s hard to motivate unless the kids have a scheduled activity there. Because my daughter has soccer, my husband goes and hangs out with her class, then runs after while she plays in the playroom. I doubt he’d make it over without the soccer class. Last winter we went every weekend, but largely because the boys were playing basketball. Scheduled things rise in the hierarchy of importance…
I need to add some of the classes to my schedule. Here’s hoping I last longer in spin class the second time around.
Sounds really lovely, Laura.
@gwinne- thanks! It was a nice weekend. Sometimes they get too hectic, and sometimes we don’t think them through and do nothing. This was a nice balance of both.
Despite being jealous of the cooler weather in Wisconsin (where we just moved from), it was really nice that was still hot enough in Florida (and PA apparently) to go to the pool at the end of September.
@Chelsea – a trade off, for sure. I’d like it to be 80 degrees for about 1 hour a day, during which we’d get in the pool. Then it could be 65 degrees the rest of the time. Sunday actually claim close to doing just that!
It was 80+ degrees in *Seattle* this weekend. We’re really grateful for that here, knowing what’s coming for the next 9 months 😉
Sounds like a nice weekend for the whole family! Here in Midwest,we started wearing sweater,it’s getting chilly here.
Technically TODAY is the last day of summer (fall begins September 23rd this year, thank you useless facts my son made me look up), but that does sound like a lovely day!
September is one of my favorite months. There is no pressure of SUMMER SUMMER SUMMER and not quite into the pumpkin-everything FALL season. Its just always nice outside and feels like a bonus month of summer.
I’m impressed that you actually tried on your picture outfits. I should probably do that – I have a suspicion that M’s dress isn’t going to fit (our photo shoot is this weekend), but I kind of don’t want to know (and then have to buy something else).
@ARC – I’ll blog about this photo shoot after. Let’s just say that the studio scheduled a call with me prior to the shoot to ensure that I’d chosen my children’s outfits correctly. I’m kind of scared of showing up with something that doesn’t work.