President's Day

What a day! I learned some stuff.

Took the whole family to the YMCA for my usual workout, but Bobby joined me because of the holiday. We got to whine about spin class together ;) then run a mile right after. We ran into some friends also enjoying the day off from work and school, which reminded me that James had wanted to play with their son. By name. Twice. Which is a LOT coming from James, so I immediately asked for a play date that afternoon.

But before James could party with his buddy, we had a whole lot going on first.

I took Alice and her friend to go ice skating while Bobby took Robert home for a play date with his friend. It turns out James wanted to try ice skating, too, so I let him come with us. I'm glad I did. He really, really liked it. He went from total, stumbling wall flower to holding my hand in the main flow of traffic in less than an hour. By the end, he wanted to race and see how fast we could go together. Alice, too, found the experience thrilling and would like to do it again for her birthday. We shall see. 

Meanwhile, Robert and his friend were having a great time at home. They even included Matthew in their play.

It was a 4-day weekend for the kids, so Robert had remembered our 1000-piece puzzles in the closet and asked earlier if we could FINALLY get another one out to do. We did. Puzzles have a methodical orderliness to them that sucks me in. One piece at a time. A hunt for the perfect color. A find. And then it fits perfectly. Ahhhhh. And it's something Robert enjoys doing with us. Bobby and I have worked on the puzzle instead of the computer for many hours this weekend and it's improved my happiness. A lot.

Anyway, I brought the girls and James home from ice skating just long enough to finish lunch before delivering Alice and her friend to a movie planning meeting. Her school friends want to make a movie based on the graphic novel "Princess X."

Then Robert's friend went home.

James' friend arrived.

Robert, Matthew and I went grocery shopping so James could play unfettered by sibling rivalry :)

We got home just in time to pick up Alice and her friend from the movie planning meeting. Bobby had made dinner. James' friend went home. We ate. We read a few stories and then watched The Gruffalo's Child before Alice's friend went home and we started the bedtime routine.

It was a busy day, but the kids didn't fight. Bobby and I both got breaks here and there and personal time with different kids now and then. Each child got to do something special with a friend...minus Matthew...but he doesn't mind playing with other peoples' friends yet ;) We were all really tired, but happy, in the end.

I guess I wanted to note it here because it set the day apart from the rest of the weekend, even if we didn't mention a single president's name. And it just fell together nicely. And both the adults and kids were happy with their experiences. For once in our lives, our vacation happiness was not a zero-sum equation. That's notable.