Weekend Update
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I hate to even admit it. I mean, it’s summer, and summer is supposed to be fun and full of activity. Right? Well, shhhhh, don’t tell anyone, but last week was . . . boring. We didn’t have much to do. Friends were out of town. Nobody had camps to attend. The weather was too crummy to go to the pool. And, yep, by the end of the week we were all kind of glaring at each other in frustration.
Now, sure, I could have planned something for us to do, but I’m working on a project that is keeping me busy in the mornings, so I didn’t plan anything. Plus, I don’t think it’s all that bad for kids to be bored once in a while. In fact, it might be a good thing because starting next week things are really going to heat up around here. We’ll be sending all three girls off on different trips, people will be coming and going for the rest of the summer, and I’m heading to a conference that I’ll tell you about next week.
But in the meantime, boredom has set in.
Like I said, by Friday of last week we were just kind of sitting around looking at each other cross-eyed, so our weekend was a blessed relief. Turns out, all three girls had activities scheduled for Friday night. Maggie went to a pool party with some friends, and Kate and Abby spent the evening playing a game with the youth group. Well, “game” might be a bit of a stretch. It’s an activity (?) that involves cars and dropping people off in undisclosed locations and searching for people all over town. Basically, it’s high school craziness that I’m sure will land them all in jail someday, but, hey, I’m permissive that way.
I was just glad to have a night alone with my husband. We ended up walking downtown to a newer restaurant where the food and atmosphere were great, but we somehow managed to get seated at a table being served by the World’s Worst Waiter. Granted, we were sitting outside—it was a gorgeous evening—but did WWW really have to sweat in our food? Poor guy was dripping, his glasses practically hanging off the end of his nose. And he was distracted. He either didn’t feel well or was tripping on something or both because he did not have his head in the game. And on a Friday night at a lovely restaurant, with live music and an outdoor patio, you have to have your head in the game.
Trust me on this one. I’ve waited tables enough in my life to know that if you don’t feel well during your shift you might as well hang it up. And WWW should definitely hang it up—he’s really in the wrong line of work.
Thankfully we didn’t let WWW completely ruin our evening. Since he never offered us coffee or dessert, we hightailed it out of there and walked to one of the three ice cream places our downtown offers. (Just one of the many reasons I love our town!) We ate our dessert as we slowly walked home.
It was nice, and one of those summer evenings you just don’t want to end because you know that very soon you’ll have to go pick up your youngest daughter and two of her friends from the pool party and you’ll get to listen to them chatter all the way home and then you’ll have to wait up for the other two to come home and then you’ll end up talking and watching Conan with the teenagers until 11.
Yes, the boredom beast had disappeared by Friday night.
Earlier in the week, B had decided that Saturday would be family night, so he ordered tickets for our local minor league baseball team because, hey, not only could we have fun at the old ballpark for cheap, but there would also be fireworks. Who could pass it up?
Saturday night turned out to be another beautiful evening, so even if some of us don’t love baseball all that much (I’m not naming names), it was fun to just sit together eating hot dogs and watching the crowd. Plus, the between-innings shenanigans are always hilariously stupid. See?
And then there was the girl in front of us who WOULD NOT SHUT UP through the entire game. Yack yack yack yack yack. All four of the women in our family can talk, yes we can (just ask Mattwholivedwithus), but this girl beat us in the talking game entirely. Might have been the beer samples she was chasing.
That’s right. Beer samples. Goose Island Brewing Company was giving away free samples. And, no, I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. What’s next? Crack samples? Weird.
Anyway, the fireworks were great. Again. Because we all know how much I like fireworks.
But the best part of the evening, for me, was the view in front of us. Turns out, going to the ballpark can be a spiritual experience.
And a learning experience too. Because Maggie fiddled with my camera and figured out how to crop. Right there on the camera! So just in case you couldn’t read the guy’s neck who was sitting in front of us, here it is again, courtesy of Maggie who showed me how to crop on my camera.
Oh, you can’t beat fun at the old ballpark!
Now, sure, I could have planned something for us to do, but I’m working on a project that is keeping me busy in the mornings, so I didn’t plan anything. Plus, I don’t think it’s all that bad for kids to be bored once in a while. In fact, it might be a good thing because starting next week things are really going to heat up around here. We’ll be sending all three girls off on different trips, people will be coming and going for the rest of the summer, and I’m heading to a conference that I’ll tell you about next week.
But in the meantime, boredom has set in.
Like I said, by Friday of last week we were just kind of sitting around looking at each other cross-eyed, so our weekend was a blessed relief. Turns out, all three girls had activities scheduled for Friday night. Maggie went to a pool party with some friends, and Kate and Abby spent the evening playing a game with the youth group. Well, “game” might be a bit of a stretch. It’s an activity (?) that involves cars and dropping people off in undisclosed locations and searching for people all over town. Basically, it’s high school craziness that I’m sure will land them all in jail someday, but, hey, I’m permissive that way.
I was just glad to have a night alone with my husband. We ended up walking downtown to a newer restaurant where the food and atmosphere were great, but we somehow managed to get seated at a table being served by the World’s Worst Waiter. Granted, we were sitting outside—it was a gorgeous evening—but did WWW really have to sweat in our food? Poor guy was dripping, his glasses practically hanging off the end of his nose. And he was distracted. He either didn’t feel well or was tripping on something or both because he did not have his head in the game. And on a Friday night at a lovely restaurant, with live music and an outdoor patio, you have to have your head in the game.
Trust me on this one. I’ve waited tables enough in my life to know that if you don’t feel well during your shift you might as well hang it up. And WWW should definitely hang it up—he’s really in the wrong line of work.
Thankfully we didn’t let WWW completely ruin our evening. Since he never offered us coffee or dessert, we hightailed it out of there and walked to one of the three ice cream places our downtown offers. (Just one of the many reasons I love our town!) We ate our dessert as we slowly walked home.
It was nice, and one of those summer evenings you just don’t want to end because you know that very soon you’ll have to go pick up your youngest daughter and two of her friends from the pool party and you’ll get to listen to them chatter all the way home and then you’ll have to wait up for the other two to come home and then you’ll end up talking and watching Conan with the teenagers until 11.
Yes, the boredom beast had disappeared by Friday night.
Earlier in the week, B had decided that Saturday would be family night, so he ordered tickets for our local minor league baseball team because, hey, not only could we have fun at the old ballpark for cheap, but there would also be fireworks. Who could pass it up?
Saturday night turned out to be another beautiful evening, so even if some of us don’t love baseball all that much (I’m not naming names), it was fun to just sit together eating hot dogs and watching the crowd. Plus, the between-innings shenanigans are always hilariously stupid. See?
And then there was the girl in front of us who WOULD NOT SHUT UP through the entire game. Yack yack yack yack yack. All four of the women in our family can talk, yes we can (just ask Mattwholivedwithus), but this girl beat us in the talking game entirely. Might have been the beer samples she was chasing.
That’s right. Beer samples. Goose Island Brewing Company was giving away free samples. And, no, I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. What’s next? Crack samples? Weird.
Anyway, the fireworks were great. Again. Because we all know how much I like fireworks.
But the best part of the evening, for me, was the view in front of us. Turns out, going to the ballpark can be a spiritual experience.
And a learning experience too. Because Maggie fiddled with my camera and figured out how to crop. Right there on the camera! So just in case you couldn’t read the guy’s neck who was sitting in front of us, here it is again, courtesy of Maggie who showed me how to crop on my camera.
Oh, you can’t beat fun at the old ballpark!
