Weekend of Apples and Friends
I keep saving posts on the belief that I will find a few moments to upload photos to someplace I can link to them, and then include them in my post. I suppose I should just come to the acceptance that I don't have the spare time.
I feel like I should, though, what with being able to walk through my door by 6pm to greet my kids. BUT that comes at the pricetag of waking up at 4:30am every morning (okay, okay 4:45am, because I find I'm not so good at dragging myself out of bed the moment the alarm goes off - my body is like "WTF? It's, like, dark out. Dude, this is sleepy-time. Go away. I don't wanna.") Which means that if I don't take my sorry butt to bed by 11pm at the absolute latest, I am dead the next day. So, no, I really don't have more time - I've just shifted it around.
If I ever could get used to the morning hours, maybe. But say it with me: Night. Owl. No one should ever get used to being up before the sun rises, dear me!
It would help, of course, if Zachary would go back to being the sweet child who slept through the night. Now he's all of a sudden waking up every two hours, so I'm not getting any decent rest at all. Teething is definitely part of the problem, and I hope all of it. You really don't know how sweet it is that your child sleeps for 6 hours straight until they stop. Ugh.
But, uh, I didn't mean this to be about exhaustion...
We had a fun, if busy, weekend. We had a late start on Saturday - partly because we didn't firm up plans until Saturday around noon, rather than before. And then there was me, trying to dress and ready and hustle the kids out the door all on my own (and you'd think the promise of apple picking, farms, and playgrounds would be all I'd need to motivate!). Instead, we had to wrestle for the clothes to get on, play a game of chase, negotiate what toys got to come with us, and all the stuff that can drive a parent crazy if you let it. I think I might split down the middle someday, as the part of my brain that gets frustrated at the endless delays fights the part that says, "Look, they're being cute. This won't last forever. Smell the roses, dammit, and enjoy the moment."
So we got out the door, if late, and then detoured briefly when it seemed as if we needed to get daemo until she managed to break into her condo to get her car keys. And then it was off to the farm!
The awesome thing about Belkin Farm is that they have a bajillion trees of all different apple varieties, and even Asian Pears and Pumpkins and berries (when in season). They have a fun little train that takes you around to the different picking spots. It's a real working farm, and so they have farm animals, and a petting zoo. A huge playground and lots of kiddie playthings. Homemade gelato. And so much more!
The sad thing is that none of the trees (at least those we saw that are in season for October) are tall enough for climbing on. Probably good for liability reasons, but, really, tree climbing should be part and parcel of apple picking! And because we were so late getting there, and by the time we were done picking apples, we had no time to enjoy all the other cool stuff there. Very sad. Joshua reminded me again and again on the ride home how I had promised farm animals. I guess we shall have to go back...
But we had a blast! Joshua had so much fun picking apples and eating grapes, and was determined to drag his very heavy bag everywhere. He picked apples for Daemo, and played games. Zachary was adorable and, not to be outdone, tried to crawl his way to every tree. A delight, I say, a delight!
Daemo is going to make a wonderful mother someday. She has such an easy way with children.
We then headed back to Daemo's place, where we cut up apples and made apple crumble, and played more kid games and chatted. Then somehow it was very late - she made us pasta dinner, and then we headed home. A truly wonderful day that I wish I had more of!
Sunday I had intended to take the kids to the Zoo, but those plans fell through due to my inability to multi-schedule. Which was probably good, as we needed a relaxing day.
Instead, I met winterswan for lunch, and we chatted and caught up a little bit. It's been FAR too long since we got together! We also talked Japan a bit, and I was embarrassed at how much I kept forgetting the Japanese names for things, or couldn't remember how to pronounce something. Bad, me!
That afternoon, I took Joshua with me on a shopping trip to check out the new Halloween Express store down the street. Had a lot of stuff, but nothing really I was looking for... except maybe wings. Dude, I need to have a basement full of wings! They did have some cool costumes that were way too expensive but good quality, unlike most halloween costumes you buy in stores.
Joshua, however, procured two mice and two spiders, and tried to talk me into getting him a white rate and a snake, too. If they had also been $0.33, maybe, but they weren't, so at the store they remained.
I think it very amusing that Joshua feels the needs to take the fake eyeballs they sell at such stores, and stick them into the eyesockets of all of the skulls.
Then it was home for a quiet evening, and then bed...whereupon our children continuously woke up. A good weekend, full and busy, and just perfect in so many ways.
I feel like I should, though, what with being able to walk through my door by 6pm to greet my kids. BUT that comes at the pricetag of waking up at 4:30am every morning (okay, okay 4:45am, because I find I'm not so good at dragging myself out of bed the moment the alarm goes off - my body is like "WTF? It's, like, dark out. Dude, this is sleepy-time. Go away. I don't wanna.") Which means that if I don't take my sorry butt to bed by 11pm at the absolute latest, I am dead the next day. So, no, I really don't have more time - I've just shifted it around.
If I ever could get used to the morning hours, maybe. But say it with me: Night. Owl. No one should ever get used to being up before the sun rises, dear me!
It would help, of course, if Zachary would go back to being the sweet child who slept through the night. Now he's all of a sudden waking up every two hours, so I'm not getting any decent rest at all. Teething is definitely part of the problem, and I hope all of it. You really don't know how sweet it is that your child sleeps for 6 hours straight until they stop. Ugh.
But, uh, I didn't mean this to be about exhaustion...
We had a fun, if busy, weekend. We had a late start on Saturday - partly because we didn't firm up plans until Saturday around noon, rather than before. And then there was me, trying to dress and ready and hustle the kids out the door all on my own (and you'd think the promise of apple picking, farms, and playgrounds would be all I'd need to motivate!). Instead, we had to wrestle for the clothes to get on, play a game of chase, negotiate what toys got to come with us, and all the stuff that can drive a parent crazy if you let it. I think I might split down the middle someday, as the part of my brain that gets frustrated at the endless delays fights the part that says, "Look, they're being cute. This won't last forever. Smell the roses, dammit, and enjoy the moment."
So we got out the door, if late, and then detoured briefly when it seemed as if we needed to get daemo until she managed to break into her condo to get her car keys. And then it was off to the farm!
The awesome thing about Belkin Farm is that they have a bajillion trees of all different apple varieties, and even Asian Pears and Pumpkins and berries (when in season). They have a fun little train that takes you around to the different picking spots. It's a real working farm, and so they have farm animals, and a petting zoo. A huge playground and lots of kiddie playthings. Homemade gelato. And so much more!
The sad thing is that none of the trees (at least those we saw that are in season for October) are tall enough for climbing on. Probably good for liability reasons, but, really, tree climbing should be part and parcel of apple picking! And because we were so late getting there, and by the time we were done picking apples, we had no time to enjoy all the other cool stuff there. Very sad. Joshua reminded me again and again on the ride home how I had promised farm animals. I guess we shall have to go back...
But we had a blast! Joshua had so much fun picking apples and eating grapes, and was determined to drag his very heavy bag everywhere. He picked apples for Daemo, and played games. Zachary was adorable and, not to be outdone, tried to crawl his way to every tree. A delight, I say, a delight!
Daemo is going to make a wonderful mother someday. She has such an easy way with children.
We then headed back to Daemo's place, where we cut up apples and made apple crumble, and played more kid games and chatted. Then somehow it was very late - she made us pasta dinner, and then we headed home. A truly wonderful day that I wish I had more of!
Sunday I had intended to take the kids to the Zoo, but those plans fell through due to my inability to multi-schedule. Which was probably good, as we needed a relaxing day.
Instead, I met winterswan for lunch, and we chatted and caught up a little bit. It's been FAR too long since we got together! We also talked Japan a bit, and I was embarrassed at how much I kept forgetting the Japanese names for things, or couldn't remember how to pronounce something. Bad, me!
That afternoon, I took Joshua with me on a shopping trip to check out the new Halloween Express store down the street. Had a lot of stuff, but nothing really I was looking for... except maybe wings. Dude, I need to have a basement full of wings! They did have some cool costumes that were way too expensive but good quality, unlike most halloween costumes you buy in stores.
Joshua, however, procured two mice and two spiders, and tried to talk me into getting him a white rate and a snake, too. If they had also been $0.33, maybe, but they weren't, so at the store they remained.
I think it very amusing that Joshua feels the needs to take the fake eyeballs they sell at such stores, and stick them into the eyesockets of all of the skulls.
Then it was home for a quiet evening, and then bed...whereupon our children continuously woke up. A good weekend, full and busy, and just perfect in so many ways.