The Young and the Restless

Four day weekend

We finally got back into a schedule and routine just in time for another day off. Usually I fully embrace an extra day tacked onto the end of any weekend, but at this point I was fresh out of ideas to entertain the kids. Which, when did it become the parent's responsibility to always plan outings every time there's a day off of school? Growing up we just entertained ourselves. That's another topic for another day, but I think it has something to do with the dawn of electronics and the need to get the kids off the couch and out of the house. We lucked out to have Papa Jolley with us for a few days when he came down to go to the UFC fight with my brother for his birthday (his wife got major points for arranging that!). He was here for a few days during the week which worked out nicely to have some daddy daughter time while the kids were in school. We had a temple/lunch date but I mostly used the time to just talk with him, he is such a great listener and has the best advice. The kids ate up every minute with him, he always does such a great job making time for each of the kids. Jason was in St Louis (and luckily came home a day early since there was a blizzard) so my dad was nice to help out while I juggled all the busy weeknight activities. I didn't get too many pictures, but the days were filled with bed time stories, soccer, football practice and board games. And bran muffins. I usually cook such good food, but I told him he came at the wrong month, January is filled with oatmeal, whole wheat and broccoli. I told him to come back next month when our resolutions start to fade.  

On Martin Luther King Day we decided to take the kids bowling. But so did the rest of the town of Gilbert. We opted for mini golf instead. Mini golf is one of those things that always sounds more fun than it actually is. But we had moments of fun.

After a long debate we decided on In-n-Out for lunch. I hopped next door to snag a bean burrito and everyone was happy.

Kylie had dance the rest of the day and Maddox's tire was flat so Jayden was "nice" to let him borrow his bike (read: he was excited to have an excuse to stay home on electronics) and we went on one of our favorite bike paths. We counted bunnies, walked through model homes (which is a favorite past time, the kids love to pick which bedroom would be theirs and it always ends in a fight because someone gets told they have to have the pink room), stopped at the park where they dumped out the drinking water to make sand castles, went to the dollar where we spent a solid 25 minutes walking up and down the aisles of junk before settling on a tub of crackers and a batman mini figure that he regretted buying not even 5 minutes later. And mints, because those soft peppermints that melt in your mouth are hard to resist. We hit the golden hour riding back and I had one of those "I"m glad to be alive" moments. The golden hour always manages to do that. After putting the boys to bed Kylie and I announced we were having a girls movie night, I picked "You've Got Mail". She was convinced it was too old fashioned for her but before long she was hooked and Jason and Jayden even joined us on the couch rooting for Tom Hanks. You just can't go wrong with a classic. So I would say we didn't do too bad filling another day off. Slow claps and back pats all around.