You know those days where you think you'll lose your mind if you have to stay cooped up in an 850 sq. ft. apartment with two kids BUT you don't want to actually go on a big trip that requires forethought (partly because this is a spur-of-the-moment feeling) and snacks and diapers and scheduling around nap time?
I get that feeling about 4 out of 5 days; though, admittedly, Kaleb has gotten better since he's been able to point at things accurately.
So, one day a couple weeks ago (yes, I'm a tad bit behind--that wedding and all) I decided we had to get out, for the safety of everyone who spends most of their time here (can't really say "live" since technically, Kaleb doesn't live here). I have an annual zoo pass, and I guess I could have popped on over to Oakland to take the kids around, but it was like 9 am and I had to get out IMMEDIATELY. No snack-packing for this trip. So I just grabbed my purse, stuck the kids in the car and we left. Our first stop was the cheapest, most kid-friendly zoo on the planet:
PetCo: where the kids go.
It's perfect. All the animals are kept in small, confined spaces, with nothing to obstruct the view, like trees or caves. They are always visible.
 |
| One of Madie's favorite exhibits: the fish. Seriously, there are a whole bunch of soft, fuzzy little kittens and creatures at the front of the store, but she asks to go see the fish first. |
The only drawback is I spend a lot of time keeping Kaleb out of the dog frisbees and balls. Really. A lot of time.
I wasn't quite ready to face going home yet--I had a good hour and a half before nap time, so we went over to Cafe Art. I just wanted something kind of cheap, and I'd been looking for a simple vase recently, so I grabbed this "coffee mug" and Madie and I turned it into a vase while Kaleb pooped his diaper and played with the toys in the corner. It's a miracle how well-behaved they both were. It's a studio filled with messy paint and breakable pottery and I left without buying anything I'd have to glue back together!
 |
| Madie, picking at her dry lips--UGH!--while she waits for me to get a paint color. Our blank vase is on the table. |
 |
| Cleaning off her paintbrush. She loved this so much. And she did a decent job of staying clean! |
We picked the finished, fired product up a couple days ago. Here she is showing it off:
 |
| It has irises and "Madie and Mum" is signed across the bottom. |
 |
| Madie helped paint the base coat--a light pinkish-beige. Then, while I painted on the irises, she went all out on the bottom. There is every color on the bottom than was involved on the sides--and then some. |
By the time we were done, we'd blown two hours and Kaleb was getting extremely hungry (read that as "cranky;" read that as "annoying"), so we ran home, I stuffed some food in them, and got them both down only a little late for their naps.
When they got up, we got ready to go out again. This time for a legitimate errand. We were leaving for Utah the next day so I needed to get the oil changed in the car. I ran it downtown and we spent half an hour at the little village green. We got there about five minutes before a horrendous group of elementary school kids arrived and started playing freeze tag. One little girl came up to me after maybe ten minutes and said, "Could you keep your kids over there," and pointed to the fountain. I said, "Sorry. We were here first," and shrugged my shoulders. One of the great things--and possibly the absolute worst thing--about gradeschool children is their sense of justice. She looked at me with a face that said, "Oh, that's true. Lame, but true," before she ran off.
But before any of the raucous kids got there, we were in the green completely alone. A group of 8th or maybe 9th grade girls came up to us carrying oxygen-inflated balloons with stars drawn on and encouraging phrases and asked if they could give the each of the kids one. "Yeah! Oh yeah, they'd love some!" I tried to get a picture of Kaleb with his but he was way to busy to hold still long enough for a clear shot. Anyway, his said, "You're pretty awesome!" Here's Madie's:
 |
| Mike and I get a kick out of her face here! |
It stayed inflated pretty well for two and a half weeks. I finally cut open the little toad-sized bubble today during nap time and tossed it out. So far she hasn't noticed...let's hope it stays that way.
5 comments:
Look at you lady, taking two kids out at the same time...you are AMAZING!!! What a fun day you had with the kids.
That is a GREAT idea to take them to Petco. I will have to remember that for when we move to a big city and need some time out of the house.
Whew! I bet that's a fair amount of work. Going out with two kids. I know what you mean about needing to get out. I'm a homebody so it's usually not too bad for me but sometimes I do just need to go somewhere or do something outside of my house. For us that usually means Walmart or the library but I guess it's something. Nice job on the vase, by the way.
Going out with two kids is the easy part. It's staying in with them that's hard. If we're in, Madie picks relentlessly on Kaleb because she's bored which leaves Kaleb crying all the time--driving me nuts--and me telling Madie to cut it out--driving me nuts--so it's best to just get out and keep them busy.
Lately though--like the past week and a half--it has gotten harder because it's getting harder for me to carry the double stroller down the stairs so I have to drive everywhere, which I hate. We do walk to the library 'cause Madie can walk it and Kaleb just sits in the umbrella stroller.
double strollers are heavy! we keep ours (single though) in the car. that way when i do go somewhere i have at least one thing to put one of the kids in. nice vase.
Yeah that was Mike's suggestion, Nicole. our double stroller is actually a light-weight bike trailer with a stroller attachment so it's not very heavy (I was using Kaleb's mum's double stroller but it was monstrous!) The problem with the bike trailer is it's just unwieldy and hard to carry up and down the narrow stairs with my changing center of gravity.
Post a Comment