And now the real fun starts, every day, all day, for the next 8 weeks I have my little ones. Yes, I have counted. There is one family vacation getaway and one family visit in there, which should break it up a bit. But I will need all my creative powers and a good’s night rest to keep us all entertained and engaged for the summer (within budget!), while also pursuing my own interests (reading/writing, fitness certification, adult conversation, and a lot of refreshing summer cocktails).
Thank goodness my good friend Cristin has re-entered my life. We are both at the same life stage right now (Read: Stay-at-home Mamas) and meet up once a week with our kids for companionship and to play tourist. It helps that she lives a mere 5 miles from me. While I like meeting new people and making friends, I’d rather connect/reconnect with people who have been in and out of my life and spend my time strengthening those friendships that we have a history. Cristin and I met when we were 18 years old, lived in the same dorm (Go PE Pyros!), and were in AFROTC together. I love that we have a shared history. Since I move around so often and my life and my relationships are disrupted so frequently, I definitely hold on to my friends.
I find at this stage in my life, I value my time so much more. How I chose to spend my time and energy, especially my ME time that is so limited, is so precious. I like to maximize my joy and happiness (Who doesn’t?!). Hubby has been calling me a Hedonist lately. Which I very well may be, but I find I “splurge” a lot for my me time. And frankly, I find nothing wrong with that. Now if I’d only try those things, even if I have to do it by myself, that I think will bring me joy! (Read: SALSA lessons!)
And of course, I am off on a tangent. So back to Cristin and my weekly adventures. We knocked off a few things off my Play-Tourist-in-DC list. We attended the annual National BBQ festival in downtown DC. As usual we underestimated travel times, crowds, and babies’ temperaments. We took the bus to the event and my poor baby girl showed everyone what healthy lungs she has. I’m sure that was really a lot of fun for my fellow passengers. Thankfully, most people appeared to be unfazed as I had most people near us making funny faces at her. As soon as we exited the bus, we found a bench and I nursed her. Give me a bench and a nursing cover and let’s go!
The BBQ Fest was fun if you like long lines. Actually, I would have had fun if I could have had unlimited beer and didn’t have to two children to tend to, then standing in line wouldn’t be so intolerable. My 5-year old didn’t give a damn about BBQ and most certainly would not stand in line without whining. So Cristin, her husband and I took turns hanging out in the LOUDEST tent at the event – the LEGOS tent – with kiddo while the rest of us stood in line for beer & bbq.
We did score some free Oscar Mayer hot dogs and a picture.
My friends look happy. Thank god they are easygoing. Kiddo’s face is more accurate about how we all felt about the day. (Where is my Hubby? He stayed at home, enjoying his precious Me time.)
I have been talking up the boat ride on the C&O Canal to the kiddo for the past two weeks in Georgetown. This summer might turn into a big scouting party of all the DC sites. So we actually got ourselves there but didn’t actually take the boat ride. Parking is nightmarishly expensive in that area. ($10 first hour, $18 unlimited in a parking garage). We both found street parking (A quarter gets you 7.5 minutes or $4 for the maximum 2 hours), but our timing was off to enjoy the boat ride. Our parking meter would have expired while we were on the hour boat ride. So instead we walked around and “explored.” As you can imagine, the kiddo was very disappointed to not ride the boat and didn’t give a damn about parking meters. But as we are starting to explain the value of money and choices to him, I explained that if we got a parking ticket (which I’m sure would be exorbitant) then we wouldn’t have any money to buy Legos.
We did walk along the canal where we met a very precocious boy named Christopher who was fishing. He offered my kiddo bread to feed to the ducks and fish. Kiddo was fascinated by this for awhile. We also walked to the National Harbor for a great view and a drink. So….next time, we know better…we will pay the outrageous fee for parking but not have a time limit while we enjoy the Canal and Georgetown.
