Cherishing our time together

The other day my neighbor asked me how I was enjoying work and if I cherished the time I was home with my kids more now that I wasn't with them 24/7.  I didn't really think much had changed.  I always enjoy being with them, right?  Then I looked back on our week together and realized how much I looked forward to just being with my kids. 

On my day off, I opted to stay at home all.day.long.  No play dates, no Target runs; just playing with toys, reading books, cuddling and playing outside.  This is something I would have never imagined doing a few months ago; we would've gone crazy being "cooped up" all day.  Instead, being at home, I was able to BE with my kids, pay attention to them and play with them. 

I had to work this afternoon, but oh my, we had so much fun this morning.  The games Punky invented this morning were creative today, and not quite so annoying.  Sometimes you can only play shopping, Wonder Pets, or her pattern game (one person says Butterfly, the next says Kitty, repeat for 5 minutes) so many times.  But not today.  I read Buddy nearly ten books in a row.  He just kept taking them off the shelf and I just kept reading.  Pure heaven.

Buddy wanted to cuddle.

        

Punky wanted tickles!

Dinosaurs and the Zoo

Today we met our good friends (Buddy's godparents) at the zoo for a fun-filled day.  It is so nice to see our little girl and little boy have so much fun with their little girl and little boy.  The four of them are bound to be lifelong friends!

We walked through a bit of the zoo before heading to the dolphin show.   

   
We had a picnic lunch and trekked to the opposite end of the zoo for the Dinosaur exhibit.  Although Buddy's latest obsession is dinosaurs, we were hesitant about going because we were pretty sure Buddy would be too scared.  (We saw a similar dinosaur at Wall Drug a month ago and it didn't go over well.)  We weren't too excited to pay another $12 on top of the zoo admission, just to carry a crying boy through the exhibits.  But, everyone else was excited to go and Buddy kept asking for the "Didosaurs".  We should've known better...

He was terrified... it was kind of cute!

After a delicious Icee (or two), our friends headed home.  We'd already been at the zoo for over three hours, but we hadn't really seen many animals.  And now Buddy kept repeating, "I do' know dee-bra (zebra) is, Dada."  So, we decided to stay and ended up staying for another two or three hours.  Looks like we'll have to head to Como sometime this summer, so Buddy can see the zebras.  

 

At the farm, Buddy had regained his confidence and was nose to nose with the goats saying "HI".  Punky insisted on finding the playground and after that we headed indoors to the Tropical area.  By then, both Punky and Buddy were starting to lose it.  Buddy didn't want to get back into the stroller and Punky kept running ahead of us.  We headed back to the car, loaded up and Buddy was asleep by the time we got out of the parking lot.  About ten minutes later, Punky was asleep too.

Camping

This weekend we went camping!  When I was little, my family went camping a few times a month during the summer.  I don't think we'll ever be into camping quite that much, but I do look forward to our once-a-year tradition.  I think it is important to introduce our kids to nature and let them get a little dirty.  And because Derek and I were raised in small towns (I count all of South Dakota as small town), we don't want our kids to end up to be "city kids".   

I'll be the first to admit, I was a bit pessimistic about our camping trip on Friday afternoon.  First of all, I had to work until 6 o'clock on Friday night.  With an hour and half drive, I knew we'd be cutting it close.  I was nervous we wouldn't be able to get the tent (and the rest of the campsite) set up before the sunset.  Secondly, the forecast predicted rain on Saturday.  I wasn't too excited about being stuck in a tent with two little kids during a rainstorm.  Luckily, everything worked out great!

We ended up having a fun weekend.  We spent a lot of time chasing Punky and Buddy around the campsite, playing at the playground and looking for caterpillars.  Both Punky and Buddy did great sleeping, eating and listening. 

I am pretty tired tonight, so I am just going to add some of our photos and be done.   

Punky spent most of the weekend hunting for caterpillars and putting them in this bucket. 

Punky was upset that she couldn't take the caterpillars home.  We told her that they needed to stay in the forest so they could grow and the next time we went camping she would be able to see lots of butterflies.  She was okay with that! 

Buddy enjoyed checking everything out.  He was curious and did a good job of being a little boy.   

The playground was probably his favorite part, as was the walk there because he got to see lots of puppies along the way. 

I was nervous with the kids around the campfire.  We sent them to bed when they got too antsy to sit down. 

Punky didn't want to try the marshmallows or s'mores, but after roasting 3 or 4 of them, she finally did.  She thought it was "ooey and gooey". 

We reserved our campsite back in March and didn't even realize then that our camping trip would coincide with Father's Day.  It was a perfect way to spend time together and celebrate Daddy.  Thanks for all you do, Daddy.  We couldn't ask for a better husband or Daddy.

  

Back to Work

I've been looking for a job for the last 6 months or so.  And finally FINALLY I got a great job with great hours.  I will only be working 20 hours a week.  And I have most mornings off, so there is still plenty of time for our weekly play dates with the MG Twins, for driving Punky to preschool two days a week, and of course for spending time with my two favorite kids.  Most of my shifts are 4 hours, but I do have to work alternating Fridays and Saturdays for the full day.  So I don't feel too guilty about leaving Punky and Buddy in daycare all day long.  I feel like this is the perfect way to ease myself back into working.  I am pretty sure this transition is harder on me than it is on Punky and Buddy. 

I just finished my first week of training and things are going well.  There have been no tears at daycare drop-off (myself included) and both Punky and Buddy say they have had fun at daycare.  I suppose there were a few tears from myself on Sunday night after I found out that our original daycare person couldn't take our kids anymore (long story).  But after numerous calls and daycare visits, we found a new daycare that will be great and better than our original.  I think Punky and Buddy will have a lot of fun making new friends at daycare.  And I know I will be happy putting my library degree to use and gaining as much experience as I can.  This is going to be good for all of us!   

Sweet 16

This weekend we headed down to IA to visit cousin Abby for her Sweet 16.  To celebrate, the entire family spent the day at an amusement/water park.  Although it wasn't a super hot day, it was comfortable in the park and tolerable (for the adults) in the water park.  We all had so much fun spending the day together.  Thanks to Abby for having such a fun idea, to Auntie for our tickets and to Grandma for our lunch!

Punky AND Buddy went on lots of "roller coasters".  They had a lot of fun!  I don't think Buddy was so sure about the rides at first.  Grandpa and Grandma took him on the carousel and a train ride that looped through the park while Derek, Abby and I were on a different ride (that made me sick).  Apparently, Buddy was not too excited about the rides and was whimpering and repeating "mama mama mama".  Once he got going though, he was pretty happy!  This is going to make walking through the Midway at the State Fair a disaster in a few months tough!  

We were the only ones on this ride.  We had to go twice.

Auntie Shannon let Punky play a carnival game and she won two prizes.  Punky even gave the second one to her brother.  Buddy dropped his can koozy in the lake while we were feeding the geese and fish.

At the water park, Auntie rented a cabana for our family.  It was so nice to have a space to spread out, warm up after swimming, and eat lunch.  We had our own waitress and it made eating from concession stands so much easier with two small kids.  Buddy even took a little snooze in the cabana!

   
We didn't take many photos of the kids swimming or playing in the water park.  For the most part, it was a little too windy for them.  They had fun in the splashing near the shore of the wave pool and swimming in the regular pool, but the spray features in the kid zone and splash pad were too chilly.  The adults, on the other hand, did get to take turns and go down quite a few of the water slides! 

 

By the time we got home, grilled burgers and ate cake, it was well past bedtime.  The next day we ate breakfast and walked to a park to feed the ducks.  Buddy was in heaven...  and I was prepared to dive in the lake after an overzealous one year old. 

Two weeks later and Buddy still hasn't put down his Wall Drug souvenir horse.