This weekend was good and crazy. I think most crazy when Chris and I were focused on getting stuff done and so the kids became mischief makers. Saturday was a craptastic day – I know no other way to describe it. No plan, grumpy Mama and the day tanked from there.

Sunday we went to Inner Space Caverns and wow! That place is amazing. I learned so much and found my sense of wonder and desire to learn awakened! They give lots of history and imagery and you feel like you are back in time watching this earth change and form. Really cool adventure – I highly recommend it! I also have to note that our tour guide sounded just like Garrison Keillor – that made it extra cool!

You would think that alone would wear out our children, but no, we do not have those type of children. So we keep tossing up adventures – bike riding Town Lake, going kayaking. None of it was really sticking. Finally, I told Chris – get everyone in the car and we will figure it out. And in preparing we decided to head down the the new and improved fields at Zilker Park and throw the ball for Chase. It was only 40 minutes – but we took our energy out and released it and had some fun in the process. Sometimes the answer doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated – it can be as simple as “get out” and boom, you get the shift you needed.

I recently blogged about A Perfect Afternoon. And soon after, I started a new knitting project and we went outside. And I was reminded how easy it all is sometimes. You just go outside and let the day unfold. Even with the crazy heat, there are moments and days where it isn’t that bad….

I missed a moment last night, and so today I must make up for it. My son noticed the sunset and wanted to take a picture of it. I gave him my camera to go do that, but then when I realized that to do that he would take down the towels and blanket on his windows, well I got cranky. Those things are a bugger to put up and I had already done it twice.

When I sat down later that night and downloaded the images, I finally saw what he saw and felt terrible. I missed a moment to share our love of sunsets and to stop and notice the beauty of it myself. To say goodnight to this summer which has been a terribly hot one and heavy in so many ways.

This morning, I apologized for being so cranky and asked Tyler if he wanted to see his picture. He asked me, “Did you printed it out?” No it was on the computer…and we then showed it to his Daddy. He wanted to know if Daddy wanted to use his picture in his photography show. I think we will print it out, frame it and find a lovely spot for it.

It was a good lesson for me is not letting my impatience ruin opportunities to share beautiful moments with my children.

This day has been amazing – cooler and different. I am not naive enough to declare fall here, but the momentum into the new season has begun. There may be no color at all because of the drought, but we will find every way we can to celebrate this season and add our own color to it.

You know I have to admit that I do have thoughts on how I wish my kids would play, things I wish they were into, certain materials I wished they embraced  more.   But then I have to sit back and simply watch to see that they are quite imaginative and are very much their own people.  It may not always be what I want, but it amazes me what they can do with the things they find.

Tyler wanted me to set up a stool so he could get down an tool apron hanging in the garage.  I come back a while later to see that he has taken everything off the racks.  He and Quinn have some old bike tires and said they were hula hoops.  Later they were enjoying rolling the tires around the garage.  And I just stopped and smiled enjoying the way in which they make their own fun.

I know I want certain things for my kids.  I also realize that part of parenting is knowing when to back up and take my perspective on it all away so that they can apply their own.   So they can look at something and decide what they are drawn to and what meets their needs right now.   As I hear it said often – to meet them where they are at.   Sometimes a challenge, always an adventure.

The other afternoon we were hanging at home and the kids were starting to get a little riled up and so I asked them if they wanted to draw. Tyler asked me who was going to draw. I told him all of us. He then asks Daddy, “Do you draw, Daddy?” Oh yeah, we all needed to draw – they need to see Daddy being artistic too. It was really nice and I think I am going to try to make it more of a habit especially when we are all needed a little downtime.

It was really nice as we all sat around peacefully creating. I also got a change to try out the kids new Lyra pencils. They are beautiful. I agree with what Soulemama espouses about quality art materials for kids – it really heightens the experience.

I also feel that if the materials are treated with reverence, the will be handled with it. Well, for the most part, I do have a two year-old.  I made these pencil cases for their new pencils and we all really like them. The case has room for 26 pencils; right now the kids have 12. It will be fun to fill them slowly over the next few years as they receive a new pencil here and there across the various holidays and festivals. Oh and Mama has a pencil case too…it is almost done.

We placed all of our pictures on the fridge. I drew a place, “where I want to go soon”, Daddy drew a farm with cows in the pasture (and my apologies to him for hanging it upside down…oops), Tyler drew “day and then night” – his recent drawing obsession, and ya know, I don’t know that I asked Quinn what she drew. She was quite pleased with it though, I know that.

So one evening two weeks ago, I was working on a website I am building for Blossom Family Center. I figure I might as well give the new Coldplay a listen. I was immediately captivated. I don’t know if it was my recent mood or what but I immediately connected to the music. I usually don’t embrace a full album right away. Within a day I wanted the music on my iPod and by the next day I remember hearing they were coming for a concert.

Three days after I first heard the album, I told Chris, “I really want to hear this album live, I want to go see Coldplay.” Sure enough they were coming in November, but only to Dallas or Houston.” And you know what, we were fine with that!

Here is the weird thing – I am not a massive Coldplay fan. I like their music, but it isn’t like I would travel to go see them. But somehow this music sonically grabbed me – and if you have heard this album, well, it was built for an arena. You want to be completely drowned in it to fully experience it. Chris did get to see Colplay at ACL and really enjoyed their show. And he is quite the music snob, so to be blown away by a band says a lot. So I thought – what the hell? The kids will be old enough..why not have a couple excursion?

The Dallas tickets had already gone on sale, but we lucked out that the Houston ones were going on sale that weekend. Chris snagged us floor seats and so off to Houston we go. The full plan is to drive down, have dinner at one of our old haunts, see the concert, stay at a hotel overnight and head back the next morning…without the kids of course.

We are so excited and have been acting like giddy teenagers since the whole plan came together.  Too bad we have to wait until November!!  :-p I think it is what we needed. Sometimes we get so lost in parenting and our lives as they are now. It is nice to carve out places where we can connect to the people we left behind the day Tyler was born. It is nice to realize they are still there and as the kids age, we will have more opportunities to be those people from time to time. To shed the weight and responsibility for a little while…

I sent an email to some friends and had to post part of it here….

Yesterday Quinn woke up way early from her nap and part of me wanted to just go get ice cream with the kids.  Then I had this internal discussion saying to myself, “no, don’t give up – you can totally stay here and have a great time.”  And we did.  The highlight was getting buckets of water and soap and having a car wash where the kids washed their bike, fire truck and whatnot.  I helped for like 10 minutes….and then for another 10 minutes they remained completely engrossed in their task.  After that we played with the water hoses…then we came inside for a while and I made them a rabbit hole out of couch cushions.

The “old me” would have bolted from the house trying to kill as much time as possible.  It was a really cool day and I was glad I stuck in out and had faith in my creativity and ability to guide us through the rest of our day.