Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy 4th of July

Our family has been enjoying a long weekend for the 4th. I would like to claim that we've been sitting around resting, but that is far from the truth. I frequently lament that I'd like to have time to sit around and do nothing, but in reality there are always so many things I want to do that I don't give myself enough time. Oh well, we generally have a lot of fun.

Friday night after work, the three of us went to the zoo for a couple of hours, and then went out to dinner at my favorite Chinese restaurant. Charlotte guzzled two bowls of sizzling rice soup and two potstickers, but wasn't a big fan of our spicier entrees.

Saturday morning my husband went for a run on Grant's Trail in south St. Louis with the other folks he's training with. Unfortunately, he left his MP3 player sitting on the side of the path when he stopped to stretch, so Charlotte and I drove back down with him to look for it. We packed my bike and the jogging stroller, and I got a 7-8 mile bike ride out of the excursion, while Charlotte took her daddy for a walk on the trail and they looked in vain for the player. After her nap, we took her to the pool in our neighborhood, and then went down to a friend's house where M. was helping install a ceiling fan. Charlotte spent a lot of energy running in circles and squealing with her little friend Gavin before we headed home for bed.

Sunday morning we skipped church and hung around the house a bit. We tried taking Charlotte to the park, but it was already over 90 degrees and our trip was short. By Sunday afternoon, we were noticing that our little baby was cooperating nicely about using the toilet, and had managed to find one of her swim diapers and put it on herself (over her clothes of course). We made a trip to Target in hopes of finding some kind of step-in or pull-up diapers that she could wear some of the time. We had a package of "First Steps" by Pampers from a couple of months ago that are built like swim diapers with the stretchy sides instead of the adhesive tapes, and came in a size small enough that they sort of fit her (she's wearing the 12-18 month sized clothes and size 3 diapers still). Unfortunately, we had run out of those, and Target doesn't seem to carry them--their potty-training pull-up diapers are 1) expensive and 2) huge (the smallest size was "2T-3T"). Sunday night brought more squealing/running time with Gavin as the guys finished the ceiling fan.

Monday we took Charlotte to daycare so that we could run some errands. After we dropped her off, my husband and I headed to Creve Coeur Park so he could run and I could bike around the lake. I made 2 laps, so another 7-8 mile bike ride, which took slightly longer than M.'s single lap running. We hit Dennys' for breakfast afterwards and then home for showers. M.'s parents' mini van is currently visiting our curb while they vacation, so we took advantage of the cargo space and drove to Sam's club to buy ourselves a gift--a new set of patio furniture to replace the white(gray and black spotted) plastic set we've been using. The afternoon was spent assembling the chairs and table (out in the heat--95 and humid!), and then doing a little grocery shopping for a bbq today. We originally planned to go to a festival and see fireworks last night, but decided it was too hot. We grilled salmon and ate outside on our new patio table instead.

This morning M.'s running a 5K with some friends. He left before I woke up for a 7am start time. It's 9:30 and I've been up for 3 hours. Charlotte and I have had breakfast, watched a little TV, got her dressed. We walked down to the park and she climbed and slid and ran. She's now eating a snack (shredded cheese--her choice) and watching Monsters, Inc (bad Mommy--letting her watch so much TV). I need a shower and to start cutting meat and veggies for grilling, but instead, I'm talking to you. Speaking of which, if you know me and know where I live, you're invited to a bbq at 3pm at our house. Happy 4th of July!

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