My parents babysat Little Buddy for a few hours this weekend so we could take the girls to Raging Rivers. It was the first time I had left him anywhere (outside of the church nursery) while he was awake. I figured he wouldn't take a bottle; I was right. My parents were troopers, though, and walked him around, bounced him, took him outside, and tried to appease him until we got home and I could nurse him again and put him to bed. It is really tricky trying to do an outing between feedings, especially when you have to drive to get to the thing you're doing. So I fed the baby, we loaded the girls in the car and drove 35 minutes to Raging Rivers. They were having a work party event for my dad's former place of employment, so we stood in line to get our grub, then we literally had about 30 minutes to play before stood in line to get our free popsicle and had to head back to get Little Buddy down for bed. Luckily the girls had a blast, got a popsicle, and didn't know you're really supposed to stay at a place like that all day. They loved having one-on-one attention and lots of water shallow enough to just run around in.
Other highlights: my dad's "nature walk" with the girls. They were gone so long I thought they might have had heat strokes, but it turns out they were in the backyard admiring wild flowers, katydids, and deer poop. This is strangely very fun for my little tomboy girls. Big Sissy was also enamored by Dad's shed, which is really "like a really big farm or barn or something where he can keep all his tools." I realize what city kids I'm raising when deer poop is the most amazing thing they've ever seen. On a side note, this was really obvious when we went to Indiana over the 4th of July. They got to pick fresh peas out of the garden and feed them to the baby chicks. It was like walking on the moon...the awe, the wonder. I guess I've never ACTUALLY walked on the moon, but I can imagine. I'm a little sad they may never have the experience of walking to school through the woods and chasing their band instruments down the creek like I did. Now that I have to pay for instruments and such, this is probably a good thing, but I'm longing for a taste of country life at this moment.
Back to the highlights: REAL breakfast on Sunday morning (no dry cereal all over the van...yeah!), tons of friends from high school to visit at church, good games of Rummikub with my parents (this is what they do daily now that Dad's retired. The game is a permanent fixture on their dining room table), watching a deer out the kitchen window, and lots of extra people to love on our kids. Little Sissy thinks Papa is supposed to always lay down with her for naps now. Somehow spending the night--even one night--with grandparents makes the visit feel so much more special and unhurried. It was so refreshing and relaxing--just what I needed.
2 comments:
As a grandparent, I enjoyed reading your post from the parent's perspective. For some time now we've tried to get the four younger grandkids for at least one night a week -- just to give mom and dad a break. We love it, mom and dad live for it, and we're making memories with our grandkids that may last a lifetime. The best of all worlds!
You know, I was in B-town today, and I was getting homesick. Even though I live in a pretty small town, our home town just seems so much more quiet and quaint. I have to say I didn't see any deer or deer poop, though. :o) We do have a great family, don't we? And I wouldn't trade our growing-up years or location for anything...even if I never come back permanently.
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