Wednesday explorers

I left work early yesterday to go home and be with Clairzee.

But on my drive home, I took note of how absolutely beautiful the day was and how green the grass and gorgeous the pink on the trees. I came in the house and Clair's cheeks were cool for the first time in days. She was cheerful and energetic. She looked more like herself. I almost cried.

And then I decided right then and there that the boys needed to get out in this day more than Clair needed me to snuggle her. Lester was happy to stay home with her, so we threw some balls and bats in the car and drove around the block to Herring Run park and the fields across the street from the boys' school.

We kicked the ball a little, hit the tee ball a little, watched a bit of a girls' lacrosse practice and ran around in the grass and the sun and the flowers, without a care in the world.

Then we decided to go exploring along the trail between the stream and the park. This was awesome, folks. I don't know why we haven't done this before.

Love this photo. They look like such big boys.

Tree-climbers.

They loved the independence of being able to just walk wherever they wanted and stop and explore whatever they wanted.

I love how they're looking at one another in this picture.

Where's Cary?

I have to say that this was one of the best afternoons we've had together in their short years on this earth. And there was no planning, no jam-packed schedule, no agenda, no fee to get in, no crowds, no constant cries for snacks, no over-stimulation and no jackets required.

We did, however, experience a  major meltdown when it was time to go home for dinner. Cary would've stayed out in the woods all night long if he could.

Let's zoom in on that cranky face, shall we?

Hahahaha!

I know he was really heartbroken that we had to leave our adventures in the woods, but his temper tantrums crack me up.

Despite that small bump in the road, this was a glorious afternoon and I'm sorry Clair missed it, but as soon as she's 100-percent better, we'll include her on future jaunts.

Packed weekend yet again (vegtivals, trees, music, friends and meltdowns)

Saturday, we went to a festival in my neighborhood, with live music and popcorn and slushies and hula hoops and tons of kids. One little girl recognized C & D from school. She's in the 3s class, and came right up to them, saying, "I know you! You go to my school!!" Cary and Dean looked puzzled and a little bit nervous, but the girl was delightfully cute. Turns out I'd met her mother more than a year ago at Mother Goose on the Loose at our local library. We'd even exchanged phone numbers back then, but never called one another. Isn't that funny? I told her we definitely should link up.

The boys loved the Fall Festival! They still keep asking me about going back to the "vegtival."

 After the festival, we went to a park and climbed a tree.

I still remember when we came to this park when the boys were newish walkers, and they had trouble navigating the ground because of all the roots and sticks strewn about. And now they are attempting to climb the biggest tree at the park!  Wow. This blows my mind.

This was August 2011 at the same park. They could barely walk! I remember being nervous that they were going to trip and kill themselves.

On Sunday, we went to their first music class, and saw a couple with twin girls, Abby and Maya, who we met the day before at the vegtival!!  What a coincidence! Turns out their girls are a month younger than C & D, and they live just a few streets over. So perhaps we'll link up.

(That's two couples I'd like to get to know better. Will I ever link up with them? I don't know. We shall see. Making friends at this age is so...bizarrely hard. It just seems weird to call up people we don't know and say 'Hey! Let's be friends!' But I do want to know more people in my neighborhood. So I'm going to try to get over my reticence. I'll let you know how it goes.)


We also went out to lunch before going to visit my friend Stephanie. This was one of those lunches that goes down in the annals of "Worst Outings Ever."

It started off wonderfully. It was a beautiful day; we sat outside. We ordered food we thought we could eat the bulk of, but keep the boys happy with, too. Turns out, Cary and Dean don't really like fancy grilled cheese sandwiches with apple slices cooked in. Or fancy chicken salad sandwiches with golden raisins. Or butternut squash soup with crabmeat and shrimp. Turns out, they get really mad when it's lunchtime and there's really nothing for them to eat. So that started the shift in the day's happy mood toward Grumpville.

Then, I gave Clair a piece of bread to suck on. She loved, loved LOVED it!

When it was getting close to time to go, I took the soggy chunk of grossness from her to clean her up. She LOST HER EVER-LOVING MIND. We're talking bucking, kicking, screaming, crocodile tears streaming. And it was LOUD. I was shocked!

Then I went to pay for the food at the counter and saw that, as it was a day before Rosh Hashanah, they had samples of kugel. I brought one back to the table for Cary and one for Dean. As we packed up our things, Cary asked for more "macaroni." We told him there was no more and it was time to go. He LOST HIS EVER-LOVING MIND! We're talking screaming, kicking, falling on the ground, crocodile tears streaming. And it was LOUD. I was shocked!

People were giving us the serious stink eye so we tried to hustle on out of there, with Clair in her stroller screaming and Cary in Lester's arms, kicking and screaming. To keep Dean from joining in the meltdown ('cause believe me, he was looking a little left out), I asked him to help me push the stroller. Zealot that he is, Hercules Davis rammed the stroller into the table in front of us. I actually started laughing, because it was just like, "Are you kidding me?"

The people trying to eat at the table were. not. amused. We could not get out of there fast enough.

In other news, Clair has decided that she can't sleep without her pacifier. She wakes up three to four times a night for it. I am exhausted.

And we decided to get a cat. I cannot deal with the mice in Baltimore. And nothing else has worked.

Neither one of us really wants the responsibility of a cat. And I have a bit of an allergy. But I seriously can NOT deal with the mice anymore. Have I said that already? I CANNOT deal.

I'll let you know how it goes.