On Friday afternoon, I start thinking about what I wish to do over the weekend. (Ok, sometimes, I start thinking about that in the morning or the night before). 48 hours hardly seems sufficient to pack everything in. However, this weekend, I am quite pleased to reflect on having accomplished everything I intended to do...perhaps not all I SHOULD do, but all I intended.
Saturday Morning: My fiance found a flier at the library advertising free airplane rides for kids ages 8 to 17 and this saturday was the last day for this year. I called the number but never did get a phone call back. So, we decided we would go anyway and hope for the best. We did spend the better part of an hour driving around the airport in Blaine in order to finally find the way in. Thankfully, the pilot was still willing to take my oldest two kids up for a 23 minute flight.
What I find interesting is that this was free. Totally amazing! And my kids were so excited about it. But what really struck me was when my "New York" said to me, "I agree the kids are brave to go up but you are brave to let them." I never even gave it a second thought when we decided to pursue it. I figured it was an awesome opportunity and why not let them experience it. I suppose, if I had tried hard enough I could have found a thousand reasons or even just one, good reasons why NOT to let them go. Those thoughts actually didn't come to mind until they had safely landed. But I am glad that they had the chance to do it and I expressed my gratitude to the pilot many times for doing this. He said that he loves to do this and is happy to do it for free because he gets paid in smiles and hugs!
what an amazing attitude!
While the oldest two were in the air, New York, Pumpkin-head, Peanut and I strolled around the air museum and explored all sorts of grounded military vehicles. I took lots of cool pictures. A couple I think I may have to blow up to poster size and hang in their bedroom. Peanut really really wanted to go in the plane but he quickly got into the spirit of exploring the army trucks, bombs, and a cargo helicopter. We felt quite sneaky opening doors and letting the kids climb in but no one ever told us not to, so we kept the experience very hands on. This would never happen at a big museum so it was an awesome experience for the boys. They talked about it all day.
Saturday afternoon: I scrapbooked for over an hour in relative peace, and stopped because i decided I wanted to stop. Usually I am interupted and have to quit. So I enjoyed being able to work for a while and stop when I was ready.
Later Saturday afternoon: We went to a kick-off BBQ for my church sunday school class. I met some new people and visited with old friends. The kids, of which I have no idea how many there were but it was MANY, ran around and played so nicely together. At one point in the evening, the hostess went down to the basement to check on the kids. There were over 10 kids down there. She came back and said, "I don't believe it but they are all quietly playing together...amazing!" It was bliss! Someone did remark that we have crossed over to a different phase. Years ago, the kids were babies and toddlers and thus the kids were always close by if not on our laps and now, they are off playing and we grown-ups can sit and visit kid-free.
I was so exhausted, I was asleep before 10pm! In fact, I fell asleep in the chair for a while, with the kitten sitting on my chest. She and I both went to bed at that point.
Sunday morning: worship at church. Followed by a Pig Roast and pot-luck lunch. I met new people and enjoyed fabulous food. I even baked bread. That is something I have only begun to do...actually prepare food rather than shortcutting and buying something to share. I was secretly tickled to watch people eat what I brought. It was Irish Soda Bread, by the way. And it was very good. I will have to make it again.
Sunday afternoon: the kids cleaned their rooms. My daughter actually rearranged her room and cleaned it real well. I worked in the garage. I sorted through winter clothes like jackets and snow pants. Then I swapped out summer clothes for fall/winter clothes and put them away in the drawers. I succeeded in cleaning the garage and organizing it enough that I can actually fit my van in it. The kids found the box with the Halloween costumes and were playing dress up. Peanut came over wearing a black wig with braids and saying "Look at me, I'm a girl. This is real girl hair...from a real girl." Much to my chagrin, they greeted the neighbor heartily while dressed as a crayon, an indian princess, a witch and a joker. I'm sure she got a kick out of it.
After this, I even got more of my scrapbook kingdom organized and cleared more floor space.
I really accomplished a lot in this 48 hour span. And now, I am going to fall into a blessed slumber before my head hits the pillow because I have worn myself out with these accomplishments. What I have learned is that with good planning, much can be accomplished. And strangley even though there were many things going on in short amount of time, I never felt rushed. I took my time and set my own pace and still got things done. hmmmm interesting!
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