As some of you know, Stephanie is on a vacation with the other women in her family to visit her cousin who lives in San Francisco. Since this is the first time that I have had both of our kids for a full weekend (without any help), I thought it would be a good opportunity to write my first ever blog post....
Here is the journal of events for Daddy Weekend:
Saturday:
7:00-8:00 - Christopher and I cooked crepes (he and I do this every Saturday morning and he normally starts asking me by Tuesday each whether the following day is a day that I don't have to work and that we can cook crepes)
8:30-10:00 - Walk down to the neighborhood park. All went well at the park except for when Lucy and Christopher were riding the bouncing alligator and Christopher got it going back and forth so fast that Lucy slammed her mouth on the handle. It gets too hot and we head home.
10:30 - 1:00 - The Stonebriar Mall. I told Christopher that we were going to the mall to play in the play area and as we were pulling into the Stonebriar Mall, he told me that it was the wrong mall (he wanted to go to Willow Bend). I didn't pay this much attention, but when we got in the mall, I realized why...no real play area! or maybe I just couldn't find it.....Daddy Lesson Learned: Trust your son on anything to do with malls since he spends so much time there with his mommy.....We went to "Build-a-Bear" for Lucy to get a bear since she does not have yet have a favorite stuffed animal. She picked out the Panda Bear. I think she really liked it the best since it was about the only display animal that she would hug and she gave stiff arms to the rest of the animals.....Time for a quick carousel ride. Lucy rode her own horse, not sure if this is a first or not for her, but she had a great time.....next up is lunch. It amazes me how something as simple as getting lunch at Chick-fil-a in the mall becomes so complex logistically when you have two kids and no other adult to help you! Maybe it just takes more practice.
1:30 - 4:00 Good, long naps. Daddy could have used one as well, but watched tv instead.
4:00 - 6:30 Play time and dinner
6:30 - 7:30 Ice cream at Double Dips in downtown Frisco. I almost didn't take them there since it is not air conditioned and was probably still above 100 degrees at this time, but it was shaded and they had misters going so it really wasn't all that bad. Lucy got her own 'baby' ice cream cone....she loved that she had her very own cone just like her big brother. Both kids were covered in ice cream, it was so bad that when I tried to wipe ice cream off of Christopher's hands, pieces of the napkin just stuck to his skin and I had to scrape them off.
8:00-9:00 baths and kids to bed
9:00 Daddy fertilizes the trees. Not an ideal time for yardwork, but when else did I have time to do it?!?!?
10:00-11:00 laundry and a much deserved adult beverage
Sunday:
Morning:
Church and Sunday School. One of my proudest moments from this weekend was fixing Lucy's hair this morning. I paid extra attention to how Stephanie did it earlier in the week, and it really paid off. Still not as good as Mommy does it, but getting better.
Afternoon:
Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie. My dad's brother, John, is a trainer at the track, and they invited us out for the afternoon. We joined my parents, my uncle Marlin, aunt Deb, aunt Marilyn, and uncle John. For those of you that haven't been out to the track, I highly recommend going sometime. We had a table in 'The Silks' area so there is a waiter to get you food/drink and you are in the air conditioning. About 5 minutes after arriving, I sat Lucy down on my chair and I sat beside her. Before I knew it, she fell through the back of the chair and bumped her head on the ground...really sad...also, really bad timing...this happened exactly at the moment that everyone got quiet for the National Anthem. So for the entire song she was screaming at the top of her lungs and I was trying to calm her down, I'm sure that basically the entire grandstand could hear her. As soon as the song completed and everyone applauded, she INSTANTLY stopped crying/screaming and began to clap with them....our drama queen. Christopher's horse won EVERY race. His secret was to select which horse he would cheer for when they were a few yards from the finish line. One time we tried to out smart him and asked him before the race which horse he would be cheering for (expecting him to say #1 or #5, etc.), but he calmly and quickly said that his horse would be the one in first place...can't argue with that logic. Unfortunately Daddy was not as good at picking winners....4 bets, ZERO wins. Both Christopher and Lucy had a great time at the track, they love seeing the horses, and they were so well behaved! It is so much fun to take them out and show them off!
Probably the highlight of the weekend for me: Bed time...after reading Christopher a couple stories and praying, he said unsolicited: "Daddy, I love you.".....is there anything better than that??
What a great, action-packed weekend we had. I am so blessed to have these 2 absolutely amazing children! I am also so blessed to have such an amazing wife that can do what I did this weekend 5 days a week by herself. I knew her job was hard and plenty rewarding, and this weekend reinforced both in my mind.
If I ever blog again, I promise it won't be this long!
