Sunday outing

Our Sundays have developed a nice rhythm. I sleep late (that's the best part) while Dave gets up with the boys, though lately even that isn't a major task. Gabriel gets up, takes off all his clothes, goes to the bathroom (I get up briefly to help him with that), puts his pajamas away, then gets dressed (I lay out his clothes the night before). Then he just plays while we go back to sleep. Julian wakes up at some point and yaks and sings in his room, and often we'll send Gabriel upstairs to open his door. Sometimes they play nicely together, but mostly, then the crying and fighting starts.

But on Sundays, Dave lets me sleep late while he plays referee. Then I get up and make a big breakfast for everyone while Dave takes a shower and gets ready for the day. After breakfast, I take the boys out somewhere. I can't imagine a day in which they don't go out -- they'd drive us crazy!

Today, I took them to an animal shelter, just to look at the dogs and cats. I didn't realize there were also some small animals, including a whole room dedicated to rabbits. They loved this excursion, and it wasn't easy to get them away from each room, especially the rabbits. Julian can be nervous about dogs, but he did very well despite some real barkers. We all liked a nice little dog named Charlie Brown, but I knew better than to come home with a stray puppy!

Then we went to a park to have lunch, despite the looming rain. Dave was feeling terrible today, so the more peaceful time he had at home the better. The park we went to fortunately had a little covered breezeway where we could sit while the boys munched their sandwiches and raisins during the brief interludes of sprinkles. They had a good time running around a concrete circle, and looking at a construction site at the park.

I'd like to think visiting the animal shelter made a big impression on them, but really, the highlight of their day was watching a Thomas the Tank Engine episode after dinner. I like that the promise of the video gets them to eat dinner and clean up the living room!