It's one of those weekends where much doesn't happen. Nothing exciting to write home about (or blog about). We didn't have anything planned, and we try to do that as much as possible. We want our weekend to just develop. We had really great moments, we had frustrating moments. We didn't eat anything special or planned. In fact, most of our meals were pretty lame if you ask me. I just didn't care.
Saturday was our Sabbath and we had to leave the house because all I really wanted to do was clean and do projects. I couldn't rest in our house and it was too beautiful to be in doors. All the kids wanted to do was go to Chucky Cheese. All Paul wanted to do was walk around a mall. All I wanted to do was walk around a lake. I'm not sure how, but my wish came true. It was wonderful. We walked around a couple lakes, skipped rocks, climbed trees, swung on swings, and gave piggy back rides. With all that goodness there was also, "I'm bored" comments, "I'm tired" and "When can we go to Chucky Cheese?" Normal kids, normal day.
After, we walked around the mall a bit and looked at lots of silly things. Then we took the kids out to dinner and came home and put them to bed. Paul and I rearranged some furniture to bring our record collection back out to a permanent spot in our home and that was wonderful. We listened to a ton of oldies but goodies for over an hour, then I fell asleep on the couch.
Sunday started with finishing homework, then off to church with their big Welcome Day celebration which included a carnival. We rocked climbed, bounced house, pet animals, and partook in a hayride. We had lunch at 130pm, we took naps at 3pm and we started our family bike ride at 530pm. We ate supper at 845pm and the kids were asleep before I was done praying over them. The day had good things, the day had unmet expectations that made me annoyed at Paul, then him annoyed at me. Then we were good, then I was annoyed at my kids, then they were annoyed at me because they were bored and just wanted to go on the bike ride. The bike ride was amazing and we had a blast riding around the city at night. It was an extra special adventure. I realized as my anxiety was rising because we were getting our very tired kids into bed so late, that my attitude was going to make or break this memory. They don't know how late it is. They just know that something fun happened. So I tried to keep my attitude in check and gently encourage quicker movements into bed.
It was nothing special.
It was very normal.
There were no amazing pictures taken, or delicious recipes to share. Nothing Pinterest worthy.
But in hindsight, I think that's what makes these the moments that get remembered. Paul and I fight hard not to be too busy. To allow these weekends and week nights of nothingness so that we can just be together. To let fun happen. Yes, my kids get bored and would probably love to have time with friends, or a sport to go to or a party to happen. But we think its really important to fight through the bored thing. To have weekends that are slow paced and force us to figure out what to do with ourselves and each other. And here in the cities there is no lack of great things to do. We have hundreds of options, but that gets overwhelming. I don't want all those options all the time, it makes me feel like we are missing out on so much so we have to do stuff so we don't miss out. That is a lot of pressure, and one I try hard to let go of.
(I got what I wanted though! With the exception of the annoyance at my husband in which he actually did nothing wrong. Got to love miscommunication!) Slow paced family time. Silly songs on bike rides. Discovering great climbing trees on the lake. Our family having good and hard moments constantly throughout the weekend. It's what families are. Sticking together in good and hard moments.
I hope my kids remember that. The days we just spent doing nothing together.