Family Fun Day

As The Grand Event approaches, I have found my personal limit for stimulation has lowered drastically. Last week I decided that there was altogether Too Much Neighborhood Drama going on, all of which involved me getting out of my comfy chair during my Sacred Priceless Quiet Time to deal with conflicts, refuse multiple requests for feeding the neighborhood hordes, mitigate disputes, interpret intentions more charitably, head off character bashing, and otherwise deal with all the issues one deals with when one's sweet homeschooled innocents have contact with girls ages 6-10 who learned their manners on public school playgrounds. I had had it up to here with sifting through all the garbage, especially now that I really need quiet time in the middle of the day. I felt like my peace was constantly getting disturbed, my sacred space was constantly being violated by vandals. The blatant disregard for authority (I'm just amazed at how many parents around here don't teach their children the meaning of the word "no") and utter disrespect for others are what really got under my skin. I was sick of being invisible until somebody wanted something from me. I just wanted to escape from it all and enjoy a nice, quiet, fun day with my family, so I suggested to Mr. Pickles that we run away on Saturday and do something fun. I didn't care what -- I just wanted to get my family away from the neighborhood to someplace emotionally safe for the day.

So we brought a picnic to a nearby park. And by "we" I mean Mr. Pickles made all the arrangements so I hardly had to lift a pinkie. He is so good to me.

Near our table Katie the Naturalist (by which I mean she is not afraid of picking up creepy crawlies) found a ladybug. Joseph was fascinated.

Poor thing. I would be very surprised if it survived after we finally left it alone.

The park we went to is awesome. It was packed with other families doing the same thing we were:

letting our monkeys climb around,

riding the mini train (with real bell! and whistle! AND it went through a tunnel! and over a bridge!),

riding the carousel (Joseph's impression: "up an' down! woun awoun!"),

hugging trees,

and generally having a good time (and hopefully getting the kids all worn out so they would sleep really well).

The park also has an ice cream shop, which we patronized happily, and a mini-golf course which we didn't, but will someday. (P.S. to potential visitors: they also have a frisbee golf course!)

Altogether a Grand Day Out.

Just what the doctor ordered.