A Date Makes Everything Better
On Saturday we went on a long date. We haven't been out for a while, which needs to be remedied. But as you will see, it's not easy to take off and enjoy alone time. Chris tried to plan a big weekend because there is a 10th anniversary coming up. 10th! That's a long time. It's funny because it seemed like by the time we would be married 10 years we would be "so settled." It doesn't quite feel that way yet, but we have definitely grown a lot in the last decade.
Anyway, so our weekend trip changed to an over-nighter and then to a a day trip. We finally ended up leaving at 3:45 pm because of the girls' ballet performance and the master piano class that the kids have on Saturdays to get ready for the recital. Our schedule is pretty full and June has quite a few commemorative things like concerts, performances, end-of-the-year stuff.
Our other obstacle is babysitters. There are many great teenagers out there. We will miss Amanda as she goes back to Brazil tomorrow. And we have had many good ones. But taking care of our team of five is not light work. They do pull some shenanigans and have lost privileges and had chores added to their following day due to things such as climbing on the roof, not coming in from playing when called, going between beds, and keeping siblings awake. I go between being concerned about leaving and really needing to leave for a break. As we drove down the driveway on Saturday, it felt so good. And a big part of that is because we had a great babysitter - an adult who is willing to come over for babysitting when her schedule allows. She brings crafts, cooking projects, is going to college for occupational therapy, and used to work at an adult skills/activity center where discipline, boundaries, and structure was a major part of the purpose. So she's pretty amazing, but even then I feel worried about the burden and difficulty I am turning over to her for the next several hours. And, no doubt, there were reports of screaming, unwanted wrestling, abandoned plans of reading turned into an earlier bedtime due to behavior. This is another entire series of posts on the joys/challenges of parenting, which is an important part of creating our family life.
We overcame the challenges of getting out the door and it was great after that. We headed to Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and used our Cinemark free movie tickets from my first RN job at Timpanogos Hospital in 2006-2007. Yes, we got a lot of free movie tickets handed out for different things and we, apparently, haven't seen many movies in the last decade. Chris always doubts they'll accept these gift certificates and almost apologizes as he hands them to the ticket person. But it always works. I love it!
Then we changed our clothes in the car as we headed to downtown Portland for the Starlight 5K Run. We ran the whole way and finished, so in our book we won! Our kids asked us if we got a medal. Not even close. But I did try to see if they would be interested in doing a race some time because there were a bunch of kids there and I think they would like doing an event like this. Gavin said, "But we don't have to stay together, right? Because we might be a lot faster than you." He said this with a sincere smile, trying to let us down easy.
And then we were near the Trendy-3rd (23rd Avenue) and Chris had eaten lunch with some Legacy employees at a Thai restaurant there. We had some great curry, volcano beef (on fire), and Pad-See-Ew at Red Onion.
It was only 9:30, and we could have done something else, but getting to sleep sounded good. We can only party so long!
Anyway, so our weekend trip changed to an over-nighter and then to a a day trip. We finally ended up leaving at 3:45 pm because of the girls' ballet performance and the master piano class that the kids have on Saturdays to get ready for the recital. Our schedule is pretty full and June has quite a few commemorative things like concerts, performances, end-of-the-year stuff.
Our other obstacle is babysitters. There are many great teenagers out there. We will miss Amanda as she goes back to Brazil tomorrow. And we have had many good ones. But taking care of our team of five is not light work. They do pull some shenanigans and have lost privileges and had chores added to their following day due to things such as climbing on the roof, not coming in from playing when called, going between beds, and keeping siblings awake. I go between being concerned about leaving and really needing to leave for a break. As we drove down the driveway on Saturday, it felt so good. And a big part of that is because we had a great babysitter - an adult who is willing to come over for babysitting when her schedule allows. She brings crafts, cooking projects, is going to college for occupational therapy, and used to work at an adult skills/activity center where discipline, boundaries, and structure was a major part of the purpose. So she's pretty amazing, but even then I feel worried about the burden and difficulty I am turning over to her for the next several hours. And, no doubt, there were reports of screaming, unwanted wrestling, abandoned plans of reading turned into an earlier bedtime due to behavior. This is another entire series of posts on the joys/challenges of parenting, which is an important part of creating our family life.
We overcame the challenges of getting out the door and it was great after that. We headed to Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and used our Cinemark free movie tickets from my first RN job at Timpanogos Hospital in 2006-2007. Yes, we got a lot of free movie tickets handed out for different things and we, apparently, haven't seen many movies in the last decade. Chris always doubts they'll accept these gift certificates and almost apologizes as he hands them to the ticket person. But it always works. I love it!
Then we changed our clothes in the car as we headed to downtown Portland for the Starlight 5K Run. We ran the whole way and finished, so in our book we won! Our kids asked us if we got a medal. Not even close. But I did try to see if they would be interested in doing a race some time because there were a bunch of kids there and I think they would like doing an event like this. Gavin said, "But we don't have to stay together, right? Because we might be a lot faster than you." He said this with a sincere smile, trying to let us down easy.
And then we were near the Trendy-3rd (23rd Avenue) and Chris had eaten lunch with some Legacy employees at a Thai restaurant there. We had some great curry, volcano beef (on fire), and Pad-See-Ew at Red Onion.
It was only 9:30, and we could have done something else, but getting to sleep sounded good. We can only party so long!
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