So Katherine is out of town this weekend, up in New York. Or as Lauren puts it, "Mommy goed to I Love New York."It sounds like she's having a fantastic time. Me? I'm really looking forward to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, when I'll be picking her up at the airport. Until then, Dad is on call 24/7. I often struggle to find ways to keep everyone entertained, but with the beautiful weather we've been having, the kids and I have had more options available to us. And yet, most of our time centers around four activities: eating out, riding in the Mustang with the top down, playing "Mousetrap," and watching Tom & Jerry. At least it keeps everyone happy. Yesterday we did McDonalds and Bellacino's. Today it was Chick-Fil-A and the park.
The park was our real adventure. Both kids fell asleep late in the naptime schedule, so while they slept, I put together a picnic dinner we could take to East Cobb Park. They were delighted to have dinner outside at the picnic tables, but a little too distracted to actually eat dinner. The playground was in Lauren's line-of-sight, while Andrew was enthralled by a father and daughter playing badminton a few yards away. We finally gave up on dinner and went exploring, which entailed walking a ways down the path that connects East Cobb Park to Fullers Park. Along the way they got to drop small rocks off a bridge into the creek below, stop to look at maps, and have the general sense of being real adventurers.
The highlight came when we arrived at the place where the path is blocked, but you can climb down a small embankment to a very shallow stretch of Sope Creek. Tonight was our second trip to this spot, and this time I came prepared. In my backpack (the first step toward being prepared) I had brought along three plastic lids from Kool-Aid containers, each marked with a different colored marker—it's time for our boat race! We ran three heats down a 20-yard stretch, with Andrew releasing them from an island upstream and me catching them down where the water starts to get knee-deep (for me, that is, almost waist-deep for the kids). Despite Andrew's best efforts—switching boats, changing the order in which he releases them, etc.—Andrew's boat finishes last each time. He was about to lose his cool until he discovered that he could load the boats up with dirt and rocks, and the more he loaded them, the more they sank and the slower they moved. I thought he was about to rig one final race in his favor, but then both kids were hit suddenly with the urge to pee.
Sadly, I knew this was coming. Despite all my efforts to have the kids go before we left for the park, then again before we started our adventure, the juiceboxes from dinner didn't hit them until we were as far away from the public restrooms as possible. So I showed Andrew how to take care of business behind a tree. Lauren is another story. Since she's fairly newly potty-trained, I actually have to hold her up while she does her thing. This is actually the third time I've been faced with the choice of either (A) helping my two-year-old daughter urinate in a semi-public place, or (B) let her wet herself and deal with a soggy and very angry toddler. Like I said, this time I came prepared. I at least had wipes in my backback. Good times!
By this time, it was 8:15 and the sun was fading fast, so we headed back to the main part of the park for a little bit of playground time before heading home. (When they take late naps, tiring them out before bed is critical.) It hit me as we walked that at the very time I was wiping messy faces and backsides, my wife was enjoying the opening scenes of "Boeing Boeing" on Broadway, with an all-star cast including Bradley Whitford, Gina Gershon, and Christine Baranski.
This trip to NY—which was my gift to Katherine for her 30th birthday—is actually a double-gift. Not only does she get away for a weekend of Broadway shows, fine dining, and a little pampering, but she also returns to a husband who has a renewed appreciation for what she does every day. Happy birthday, babe! I love you!
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