Sunday, August 14, 2011

We Make Our Own Fun Here...

For many reasons, I spend a lot of time alone. I don't have many friends that live close and don't have many if any friends with kids. It makes me feel bad sometimes that it's just Justin and Brendan, but it leaves us to often make up our own stuff to do each day. Justin's not really old enough to handle the miles I like to walk and that we'd need to walk to get anyplace with stuff to do, so I usually reserve those trips for when he is at school. Friday Bren and I walked to a park and had lunch near a store I wanted to visit, which turned out to be closed for another two hours......way to update your website for the summer guys. Ugh. I did however go alone the next day and get some nice stuff there- and the walk was anything but a waste as Brendan and I got to explore and have lunch someplace new.
I got a yarn called Kathmandu DK in a blue-grey tweed that has wool, alpaca, and cashmere in it......oooh squishy!

Ahem, anyhow.

This weekend, we decided to do something we haven't done at this place yet, and never in the urban heck that Woonsocket was. Will came home from work and set up the tent in the backyard. Friday night, Will took the boys outside and started the firepit. I made marshmellows and smores and we had a nice time. Then I got the boys into their pajamas, and Will took them outside with their gear for a night of camping. The tent says it sleeps four, but we know they mean if you like sleeping like a sardine. So I opted out of that. Gave them room and someone was in the house if one of the boys got 'homesick'. They watched a movie together and got to have a boy's night out.
I got to stay in- which I spent obsessively cleaning the house- sweeping, dishes, laundry, toy pick up. Then I did some crafty stuff until I was sleepy. I think I missed them and the routine of tucking them in.
They got up bright and early at about 6 and came in the house, thankfully I was woken up about 7. I made everyone breakfast, it was nice.
I took off for my walk at 10, and enjoyed the fresh air. I like studying the world around me as I walk, it brings me zen, it always does no matter where I am headed. I had a lovely time chatting with the owner of the yarn store, and another customer, and got a coffee. Good outing. I came home just in time for lunch.

We hung around the house for the day. I decided I'd camp out with the boys for Saturday night. Give Will a break, which he used to go to dinner with friends of his. I packed up everything for us to go out, and we settled in. It was a lot of fun, the boys are young and thankfully easy to please for now. I brought the laptop out so we could watch a movie- Tangled was free on Netflix, so we went with that. We chatted a bit, and snuggled together until they started to fall asleep. I watched another movie once they did, then brought the laptop back in the house and got settled back in the tent myself. Took forever to fall asleep. It's the little things we take for granted. It's LOUD at night. During the day the insects are much quieter, at night, it's like they have a concert! Whether you like it or not, you have a front row ticket and no ear plugs.

Anyhow, shortly after midnight, it started to sprinkle. It did off and on all night, nothing too bad, but I kept waking up. Finally at 6 it started again and got steadier, so I gathered up everything in a couple of trips, and we finished our campout on the couches inside. It was fun, all in all. :)

Main point is, doing special stuff with the kids doesn't have to cost a fortune. They won't remember the money you have spent anyhow. Just letting them know you love them and want to do things with them brings a smile to their faces, and to mine.

I also spent the weekend battling the squirrel, or whatever it is that's taken a shine to my tomatoes. I've had to throw about 6 or 7 of them into our brand new compost bin now, there were a couple I managed to save. It's so frustrating, because I've been working hard on this garden and the tomatoes are all looking good, then, just when they start to ripen, I find big bites of them gone. Little jerk.......I need to grab mothballs next time we head out to the store. Someone said that deters them. I am also using homemade repellent, but with the rain it's been less than effective. I found one ripening and picked it so it could finish inside- so there, fuzzy vandal!

Anyhow, all else is going well for now, crafting is another zen focus for me. I think I am almost ready to check off learning to knit from my 40 by 40 list, as well as the garden, even with my little 'friend' helping. So that's encouraging!
:)

Starting to really plan Justin's birthday, he'll be five in just about three weeks or so now. Hard to believe how things have changed so fast, how much he's grown. Brendan will be three a month later. Sometimes, I wish it could all slow down a bit. Life never seemed to pass this fast before I hit my 20's. Sigh.

But yeah, we like to make our own fun a lot, and when we do the bigger stuff it seems all the more special. Maybe we'll have enough for a fun trip next year. I'd love to take the boys mining/gem hunting. They both love rocks and digging in the dirt.

Every thing we do, no matter how small is an adventure.

1 comment:

  1. We did a lot of stuff like that when I was a kid too. We never cared that the fun was low-cost!

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