To many, spontaneity is a symptom, a characteristic, if you will, of the immature...the irresponsible...of those daggone teenagers. First of all, if you wanna call me immature, so be it. Most likely, you'd be right. Irresponsible? I would say yeah...sometimes. If you call me a teenager, I'd say, "I love you. You must think I look younger than I actually am."
Here's the thing, though; lately, I've come to realize that those days where I do the most impulsive things are the ones that allow for the most excitement, for the most "joie de vivre," as the francais, well, say. I'm proud that I live spontaneously...in spite of the fact that people may judge me for it and that I find myself at the end of many nights thinking, Will I ever catch up with myself?
So, I woke up last Thursday morning at 7:30. My kids were fast asleep, and I knew they would be until I woke them, which I planned to do at 8:00. I just wanted 30 minutes to myself as I drank my coffee and watched a bit of Good Morning America. Then, I would wake them and take them to day care, where they're both signed up to spend Thursdays and Fridays this summer. And...I would have the day to myself cleaning my house, which just had to get done.
Well, 8:00 came, and 8:00 went. Oh, I'll wake them up at 8:15, I thought. Well, 8:15 came and went and turned into 8:30...which turned into an extra cup of coffee and a "quick" Facebook check...which quickly became 9:00. At that point, I said, "Might as well let 'em sleep in." (Like they hadn't already.) This definitely meant there would be no day care on this particular day. There, the kids are still expected to take a nap...for a couple of hours. There was no way my kids would sleep.
So, what I ended up with was a day without a planned activity in sight. And what I love about days like these is that there are a million possibilities.
Once the kids finally woke up on their own, we decided to let the wind blow us wherever it wanted. The first place we landed was Barnes & Noble, where my son still had a $25 birthday gift card to use.
Once we were in the store, I looked at him and saw the smile on his face as he thought about what to buy. "Do you know what you want to get?" I asked.
"I'll show you," he said. "I know just the thing." He led me back to the books, and I was thinking he'd look for a Lego set...or a few books. Instead, he went right for it...something he's mentioned before...something I never thought he'd seriously be interested in. "I want this," he said, to my dismay, pointing to a 30-dollar Harry Potter item. Yep, he wanted a magic wand. And, he totally thinks it works. (I'll have to tell you more about the "magic" he performs in our house later.)
When we left, we drifted downtown to the Explore More Children's Museum to meet Leo's friend Noah. When we walked in, I talked with the woman at the counter about purchasing a membership to the museum. I've been thinking about it for some time...(still thinking, I guess). When I was finished with my conversation, I realized that both of the kids had run off. There's just so much to play with; they were lured away by it all.
When I finally caught up with them, I found Leo underneath a car asking Harlan to bring him the engine, like she would know what that was. I wouldn't know what that was. Well, after receiving specific instructions, she found it and handed it to him. They continued to work on the car while we waited for our friends; they even replaced a dirty filter and tightened some screws under the hood. I swear, the teamwork with the two of them was amazing. Throughout the entire process, there was never an unkind word exchanged. If the children's museum has that kind of effect on my kids (who usually fight a lot at home), I'll bring them back every day. Or, I could just ask Joe Bowman to set up the car and its accessories in my own house. Wonder if that would work?
When the work on the car was complete, Leo looked at me with that same smile on his face, and I noticed that he had something behind his back. "What do you have there?" I asked.
"Follow me," he said mysteriously. I should've known what he had, where he was going...where he'd planned to go all along. The car had been a brief distraction. In no time at all, we were in the theater, and Leo had pulled out his wand, transforming himself into Harry Potter. All he needed, he said, was the...scar. And, he did it himself right there on the spot, with no help from me.
As for Harlan, well, she headed straight for the make up. I was terrified that she would end up looking like Mimi from the Drew Carey Show, in spite of the fact that she would be attempting to look like a Disney Princess. I just knew it wouldn't work out. And, at this point, you might be asking, "Well, why didn't you help her?" Trust me; I tried. She didn't want me to have anything to do with her makeover. I totally left her alone for a little while. I was in the shadows just waiting with the wipes...and taking pictures of the process, of course.
When she finished, I took one look at her and really was at a loss for words. I had no idea what she was goin' for, so I simply asked her. "Harlan, who are you?"
"I'm a Abahrigahneeee people," she said. And right away, I knew exactly what she meant. She had been learning about the aboriginal people of Australia the week before at day care. It made sense to me; I just wasn't sure if the other people in the museum would get it...or if they even needed to. She did look kinda scary after all. But, I just decided to leave her alone. She loved the way she looked.
While we continued to wait for friends, we shopped for fresh produce at the Farmer's Market. We were even given a list of items along with prices. Since Leo had stolen all of the money from the cash register at the theater's ticket booth, we were loaded. We could afford any and everything we wanted. But, if we couldn't, we had a scary-looking Harlan; she could get us anything money couldn't buy.
Once we had selected and paid for all of our "fresh" fruits and veggies, we wanted ice cream. Luckily, we knew the little girl who was selling it, and we got a good deal...and a lot of ice cream.
By the time we were finished, our friends were there, and more fun was had...and by all, I think. The boys built a house, took turns burying each other, and laughed a lot. On the other hand, my aboriginal princess played by herself, not at all fazed by the stares.
As my kids ran around the museum, they explored all the exhibits it had to offer. I watched as other children and their parents flitted here and there and observed as they seemed to take notice of my little Harry Potter with his scar and wand and my little aboriginal princess as she jumped up and down and bounced around.
We were all tired when we left downtown Harrisonburg, but not too tired for another stop; this time, we headed for Brusters. All of that fake ice cream made us hungry for the real thing. So, after we'd had our fill, and our fingers were sticky with ice cream, we headed off to Kinetic Kids just in time for the 4:30 karate class. Once we arrived, we met Mrs. Mayes there out front, and she told us there wasn't a 4:30...only a 5:15. We were welcome to come in and play; only, after looking through her purse, she realized she didn't have her keys; therefore, we were temporarily locked out. Ironically, I was waiting until we got there to use their bathroom to wash off the aboriginal paint, the scar, and the oreo chocolate ice cream from between my fingers.
And suddenly, it hit me. We hadn't even eaten lunch. I mean, we'd "eaten" a lot of plastic produce and some actual ice cream, which I'm thinking could count as lunch, right? OK, yeah, I know...not at all. So, I had to find a quick place to grab a bite for them to eat.
So, the wind wasn't done. It blew us down to check out the new restaurant, Angelina's, in the same set of buildings as Kinetic Kids. There, I got the kids a small pizza to eat before the 5:15 belt promotion ceremony for Leo (he's now on his green belt with the Lil Dragons). While I paid, I noticed that my fingers were still sticky from the oreo chocolate ice cream, and I realized I had to go to the bathroom. Thankfully, they had one we could use, so we all went back and looked at ourselves in the mirror. Harlan scared herself just a little; Leo transformed into Harry Potter; and I, well, nobody had told me that I had saved some of that ice cream on my nose and chin. So...we are three crazy people who are perfect for each other. Can peas come in pods of three?
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