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Down came the rain and washed the fun right out of summer...not!! We are having an unbelievably wet, cool summer...not a great summer for a new pool.Thank goodness my kids are pretty resistant to the cold water (we didn't spring for a heater...maybe next year). Anyway, my husband had a few days off and we decided we were not going to sit around the house watching the rain come down!!
Off to the only place we could think of that has lots of indoor things to do...the nearest big city! We disguised ourselves as tourists and fell off the turnip truck, brushed ourselves off and ventured into the Big City. My poor kids are pretty naive when it comes to cities, so they couldn't quite get it that they can't jaywalk without causing a near accident, shouldn't climb the downtown statues, or ride the escalator twenty times in the span of five minutes. Just watching our daughter try to get off one is quite amusing. Sigh...I grew up in a city so I am uber sophisticated (sniff, sniff...) so they must get this naivete from their father!!
We decided that we were going to eat somewhere fun for both meals of the day. My youngest son piped up that we should eat at Wendy's Restaurant (which was immediately shot down) and then moved on to suggest our hometown pizza joint. Again, we reminded him that we were "in the city now", and therefore couldn't eat at our hometown restaurants. Just for the record, he is eleven now, in case you are picturing a six-year old. We love his innocence, but boy he sure can throw you for a loop!! In the end, the kids ate at a pizza joint and we dined in a fine Irish pub where we tucked into "chicken curry and chips". I often think you have to have British blood in you to enjoy such fare, and since we do (I was born in Northern Ireland, and my husband is of Scottish heritage) we ate up every scrap...while throwing the odd bit out to our daughter, who, rightfully so, declared it delicious!! Low fat, it was not. But hey, we were tourists for the day!!!
We had fun exploring a WWII war ship at the harbour and I had lots of fun continuously reminding the kids to not get too close to the side of the wharf ( long-held fear of dark, murky water). After lunch, we headed to an indoor go-kart track (it was raining heavily by then) where my eldest child was determined to lose his record of world's slowest and most cautious go-kart driver. He was, in the end, able to shrug off the title, but his younger brother still managed to break all speed records and be declared the fastest driver of the session. I can hardly wait till he's old enough to drive a car!!!
Well, being good tourists, we wanted to contribute to the local economy and pick up a few "souvenirs". Even hubby got in on the act (very uncharacteristic) and bought himself some new duds. The deals were amazing!! They were practically calling out to us. I picked up a new purse and nighties for both Sophie and myself at La Cache (April Cornell). Hers is periwinkle blue, mine- white. Also, I picked up a new apron there...some of the money went to Ms. Cornell's charity after all!! I managed to get into Michael's and took advantage of a sale on Martha Stewart items for Sophie's birthday (time is ticking), some pink glitter to hold me over till I can get some from the Glitter Fairy, some craft stuff for Sophie, some ribbon, monogrammed note cards, and some cute labels that say "from the kitchen of..." (never mind that I am not the type to whip up culinary delights as gifts, but if I ever do...) The picture above also shows my new napkin holders I got on my last trek to the city.
We had a great day, the kids were very appreciative, and we were all "plum tuckered out" at the end of the day. In fact, we had a quiet ride home as Sophie fell asleep with her mouth wide open and the boys amused themselves making faces at her and pretending to feed her candy. Simple minds are wonderful things...!!!
