A better rhythm

Somewhere along this road, the kids stopped needing naps and/or rest time.  That actually may have been a couple of years ago, but for some reason it didn't all register with me until recently how this change in nap routines would/should affect our summer rhythms.  We had enough "early" stuff this summer that I was still in that mode in early August and made the mistake of scheduling dentist appointments and other meetings in the morning.

It finally hit me last week that maybe we should stay home in the mornings when the kids want to move slowly and I want to check things off my list and then do activities in the afternoons.  Duh.  Once I had that epiphany, life has been a lot nicer.  Well, that and I finally got sort of caught up with some of the garden produce.

Last Wednesday morning the kids made a very elaborate zoo set-up in the basement with little animals, blocks, people, trains, etc.  It entertained them off and on for most of the week ... until there was a "hurricane" down there and then a flood, at which point I taught them about the massive clean-up efforts needed after hurricanes :)

Back to Wednesday ... we had lunch with Matt at work, using our Pizza Hut coupons from the summer reading program (!), and then spent the afternoon at the Henry Vilas Zoo.

There's a new Wisconsin heritage exhibit with four badgers!

The lions have cubs right now :)

There's even a porcupine exhibit, too!

We even ended the day by playing in the backyard pool after dinner.  The water was sort of warm, but, oh my, was the air outside c-o-l-d when we got out.

Good productive morning for mom (I think that day was applesauce) + happy kids = good day.

Thursday morning we stayed at home before having a fun playdate with friends in the afternoon.  Again, good productive morning for mom (that day might have been spaghetti sauce) + happy kids = good day.  Thursday night I ended up canning some pears, too, since they needed to be done.

Friday we did a field trip day to Milwaukee to the Public Museum.  What a fun adventure that was!  Everyone was cheerful for the drive and the exhibits.

We spent almost all of our time on just one floor, and the kids were bummed when it was time to leave.  I have a feeling we will be back there again someday; it wasn't until the very end that we discovered the Woodland animals exhibit.

On Saturday afternoon the kids had birthday parties so we stayed home in the morning (while I canned some more pears) before the parties began.  Anna and Matt went to the party of a McFarland friend while Ethan, Kate, and I ran a couple of errands before we went to the party of a church friend.  Another fun day.

Sunday was a church day and then a salsa morning.  (Matt helps with the salsa every year since he by far consumes the most salsa in our family.)  After the salsa was done, I took the kids in to the McFarland pool for the afternoon so Matt could have a little bit of time on his own at home.  This time around, both Kate and Ethan discovered that they could jump off of the diving blocks in the deep end and swim to the side!  They had SO much fun!  We don't have a diving board at our indoor pool, but I bet those two are ready for one :)

Since I finally discovered the better rhythm of our days, I'm doing my best to make that work this week, too.  Hopefully, it helps, because there are A LOT of tomatoes sitting on our counter right now and the apples just keep falling off of the trees, and now the grapes are ripe, too!