While our friends to the west...like Johnny and Hilary....and our family to the north got snow, we spent the day enjoying rain....lots and lots of rain.
One of our friends had invited us for an indoor play date due to the rain. We planned to go bowling only to find that the bowling alley was closed. Big bummer for the kids. Instead, we may our way to the aquarium. Good idea, bad day. The aquarium was PACKED with several school groups. The kids were pretty good...as good as you can be when it is a group of 4 boys, one baby girl and 2 moms.
The bad news about the aquarium is that the parking is not so close. It started raining on our walk in. Payton had a rain coat. Owen did not. Mommy did not. Owen thought it was fun to run in the rain and splash in the puddles. Mommy did not.
As we enjoyed the fish, the alligators, the snakes, the otters and the lemurs, we were still completely aware of the rain that was coming down outdoors. It was pouring.
After about two hours, it was time to pack it up. Rain or not, we had to go. 1 Raincoat, 1 umbrella, 1 little Owen who wanted to be held. I put the umbrella up. God laughed at me and sent a gust of wind. Bye, bye umbrella. Owen wanted down and took off running. Luckily, my friend felt bad for me and let me borrow her umbrella (she and her boys all had raincoats.....I didn't pack raincoats because we were supposed to be bowling!). God smiled and the umbrella worked.
Owen smiled and ran and jumped his way through puddle after puddle. If you are familiar with downtown, you know that after a morning of rain, there are lots of deep puddles! His shoes and jeans were soaked.
We had thought of doing lunch with our friends, but opted for a drive thru instead. Owen complained of being cold...I explained it was because he was soaked. He didn't seem to understand.
After eating lunch, Payton had one of the worst meltdowns he has had in about 2.5 years. Full on, verbal and complete body tantrum. Tears, yells, kicks....you name it. It was awful. The best part of the day (at the moment) was that Chad was coming home early.
Probably the worst part for Chad.
After handling the tantrum for 45 minutes, Chad came in as the closer. Luckily, he put a little more fear in Payton and he eventually climbed into his bed for a much needed nap.
In fact, we all climbed in to bed for a much needed nap. Mommy and Owen snuggled up together and slept our rainy afternoon and bad moods away.
Everyone woke up in a much better mood. So good, that we went ahead with our plans to go out to dinner. The rain had stopped and I hadn't prepared anything.
We headed to one of our old favorite pizza spots and enjoyed salad and pizza with our sweet boys. They were well behaved at dinner. Payton was a real helper too! It is great that he is old enough to help with drink refills, extra napkins and even walking all the way to the counter to request "one small pizza box." He even danced with me in the parking lot. He sure does know how to make up for an afternoon meltdown.
The highlight of the day was getting home. As we opened the door, Payton asked if we could sit on the couch and have a family meeting. This is a first. Chad and I don't "call" family meetings either, so who knows where he got this idea.
We all gathered in the living room. The 1st ever family meeting was called to order. The oh-so-important topic of discussion....tee ball. Payton wanted to explain to us why a "pitcher" is needed in tee ball. He also discussed the role of the first baseman and second baseman. We listened and smiled and even discussed getting him some new cleats for his upcoming tee ball season (he has been wearing his current cleats for about 18 months and they are finally too small!). The meeting was adjourned and the boys headed off the bed.
What an interesting, all over the place, rainy, dreary, makes-me-want-to-pull-my-hair-out and scream, but uplifting, wonderful day! There is good in every day. Some days you just have to look a little harder than others!
We will be enjoying a Saturday with nothing planned. We will be missing the UNC vs. NCSU game in Chapel Hill. I'm pretty sure I haven't missed a State game since 2000...Chad since 1997 probably. The sacrifices we have to make when we grow up. We'll enjoy watching it on TV.... happy to miss out on the 4 hour drive....and sad to miss being with lots of our friends....even those that had been stuck in the snow!
Go HEELS!
No comments:
Post a Comment