Gosh, this last Monday was just too good. I didn't even realize that the boys didn't have school until Sunday night and I'm not gunna lie, I was EXCITED. Probably more than the boys even. I've been trying to find the balance between getting all of our homeschool work done and going on fun adventures so the opportunity to have an entire day free of any plans just sounded magical.
We had a fairly slow morning, Porter took his nap, I got some cleaning done and then we headed out to explore. I didn't tell the kids where we were going until we loaded up the car and started pulling out of the driveway. We drove thirty minutes away and it was so refreshing to have stress free time with my babes. We weren't rushing to get anywhere, no one was tired and grumpy, no one was arguing, and I didn't hear "Mama" 1700 times from four different tiny people at once. It really was the perfect drive. We talked about all the fun we were gunna have that day and about fun stuff we have coming up as a family. Apparently they enjoyed it just as much as I did because thirty minutes later and they couldn't believe "we're here already!?! That was so fast!"
After lunch I grabbed a drink from Starbucks and we headed to a park we've never been to and it was a huge hit with the Baker babes. There were two playgrounds, a wide open field for lots of running, endless amounts of shaded picnic tables, a sidewalk that looped around the entire park, a "native plant" garden, and a couple of wigwams that the kids LOVED playing in and reading about.
We took a walk through to the wigwams and on the way there Carter had a woodchip go straight through the bottom of his shoe and into his foot! Not kidding, I had to dig it out of the sole of his shoe with my car keys...after the shoe incident and playing in the wigwams for awhile we explored the "native plant" garden which was really just a bunch of dirt and dried up brush cause >>California drought, you know<< and a few sculptures. Oliver was excited because he found an acorn tree while we were there and he got to catch a lizard. He named him "Blue belly" and after holding him for a bit he let him go.
After we finished exploring we headed back for some snacks and more playground time. I ended up having to hold Porter the entire time because Kaleb had cleaned out our car this last weekend and took all of my baby slings out and forgot to put them back in. I didn't even think to check because I'm so used to just having them in the car when I nee them so needless to say, my arms were dying.
We spent the rest of the afternoon driving, thrifting, and the babes talked me in to a trip to the dollar store where they each got to pick out a toy and we got a can of pringles for the drive home. They all talked about how fun our day was on the way home and how amazing the chips were haha! This Monday was just what my Mama heart needed and we got to make lots of sweet memories!
