Kindness and fun

Last night we were reminded that the world is full of kind people and that we all need a bit more fun in our lives.

Dinner was not the highest point of my day.  Emma refused to sit in her chair as she has for weeks now.  I guess she is telling us she hates the chair.  I do, too.  I hate that she needs a special chair to sit in.  I hate that the multitude of seating options - since when did it become natural for me to sink into some therapy speak???!!! -  err, chairs we've tried for the last almost 6 years haven't worked.  I'm working on getting her another one (Rifton Hi/Low chair that gets rave reviews from parents in similar situations) but we don't have it yet.  So we try and make due with what we have and promise her something better soon.

Julia sat in her chair but said dinner was boring.  She is getting bored of the food and really didn't want to eat it.  Huh?  I told her she can go be bored in her bedroom.  Emma had a similar reaction to the dinner and she got to be bored in the living room.  Chris realized I had enough of the dinner and ate without a peep other than to say how good it was...truthfully, though, it wasn't really the dinner "conversation" that put me in a sour mood.  It was all the whining and crying for the hour before dinner followed closely by louder whining at the dinner table.

I had enough.  It happens to even the most patient of us.  The one time of day we are all together and I want it to be fun.  And so we were going to have FUN if it killed us.... but thankfully for all of us it didn't. :-)

Dinner was dismissed and I directed Chris at loading up the car with our bikes, Emma's bike trailer, her special tomato seat and Julia's helmet.  Emma giggled and squealed the entire time watching him load up.  She is always up for an adventure and it put me in a better mood immediately!  Julia was not happy about our planned adventure and told us so.  She isn't really outdoorsy.  Chris looked exhausted from work and didn't look much happier than Julia but kept it to himself.  I love that man!!!!!  We piled into the car and Chris backed the car up the driveway with the bikes on the rack without hitting the house or the window unit air conditioner and I was so grateful.  I'm a terrible backer upper under the best of circumstances (which is really quite unfortunate since I have to back up the driveway several times a day!) and know that in no way would I have made it out of the driveway with everything intact.

We went to the park and tested out a new path.  It is 1 mile in and 1 mile out.  Two miles.

I didn't exactly realize it would take longer to load and unload the car than to ride the path.

Two miles we rode our bikes and everyone's mood was completely changed.  We all were in better spirits and were definitely having fun.  I was thinking of doing the trail a few more times but Chris and Julia were thinking of ice cream.  As their luck would have it Mr. Softee pulled into the park just as we were finishing up our trail ride.

Should we get ice cream after the dinner fiasco?  Chris finally decided to toss aside his original decision of no for a yes.  I think the fact that he wanted ice cream may have had something to do with that.  He ordered 2 ice creams - one for Julia and one for him to split with Emma.  And when he went to pay for them Mr. Softee told him the guy before us paid for the ice cream.

Kindness.  It made me smile and my spirit felt lighter.

We stayed at the park for about another hour playing on the swings, biking down the hills while screaming with joy, checking out the fully ramped tree house type structure which delighted the heck out of Emma.  It was fun.  We all decided we need to do this again soon.

Tree house ramp