It Would Have Been A Good Last Day

Saturday morning as I lay in bed trying to will myself to get up I wracked my brain to think of a plan.  A plan to make the day great.  Fun!  You see, not only were the boys depressed that Todd went up north to the cabin to put the pier in (too many gnats for the kids and I to enjoy being outside) but apparently there are quite a few people that believed it would be the end of the world.  Puts a little bit of pressure on me to make it a great day for the kids, ya know?  Not that I believe any of that craziness, but I figured if on the off chance the world was ending then we may as well go out on a high note.

The weather wasn't much help.  Had it been a beautiful, sunny, warm spring day (what's that?) then I probably would have taken them to one of their favorite parks and let them play until they pass out.  Turns out is was very cloudy and cool with a chance of rain.  Hmm.  Does not leave me many options with four kids ages 1-8. 

I wanted to get them out of the house.  That much I knew.  It had to be something we haven't done in while but that would not be too challenging for me to juggle all four of them.  After thinking it over for a couple of hours I decided to take a chance on the weather and venture out to the free zoo a half an hour from our house.  We'd only been there once before but they kids loved it.  It is small enough I knew they wouldn't be exhausted walking around it.  It has a great little park that the boys could wear themselves out on.  And if it started to rain it wouldn't take long to get back to the car (like I said, small zoo). 

After breakfast I announced my plan to the boys and they were thrilled.  They dressed in warp speed and picked out the perfect stuffed animal to take on the trip with us.  I even packed a picnic lunch for us just in case the weather complied. 

By ten o'clock we were on the road.  By eleven o'clock we were watching the big black bear scratch his tush on a tree stump.  Good stuff.

I was extremely thankful that I dressed the kids much warmer than I dressed myself.  Although it was supposed to be around 65 degrees I don't think it got over 55 and the sun just couldn't break through the clouds.  I was cold.  But we were having fun so it didn't matter.

Gracie did a great job keeping up with her big brothers.

 And the boys did a great job watching out for her and protecting her.

 And helping her out too.

We took a slow lap around the zoo and then headed over to the park.  The kids played, we ate our picnic lunch, played some more, and then went on another lap around the park.  We were relaxed.  We took our time.  We enjoyed it all.

We stopped to smell the flowers.

Although Grace was a little annoyed to find out her dandelion did not smell like the pretty tulip she had wanted to pick.

I just enjoyed finally seeing some signs of spring.

Tulips and bleeding hearts.  Two of my favorites.  We may not have had sun, but at least we had flowers.

And these adorable little guys.  We stopped and watched these two little comedians until we began to feel the first raindrops fall.

That was our cue to head back to the car.  It was already way past nap time so I figured Grace could just catch a little siesta on the way back home.  The stinker ended up staying awake the whole time and I decided that since it was our last day on earth we could skip the naps.  Instead we stopped at the movie store and got a couple of movies the kids wanted to see.  When we got back home we built a blanket fort and popped some popcorn.

Everyone was on their best behavior, trying to make this day as special as possible.  Even Molly was a good dog and sat by patiently as the kids ate their popcorn on the floor.  She didn't even beg.  Amazing. 

After the kids ate their dinner (very well behaved AGAIN) they all snuggled up with their favorite blankies and stuffed animals for another movie.  Sometimes a rainy day can be really awesome. 

I put Grace to bed super early and let the boys finish their movie.  They were pretty tired and as soon as the movie was over they were off to bed without incident.  After all was quiet I had some Pad Thai delivered from my favorite Thai restaurant, made myself a little drink, and watched some pointless tv.  Overall, I'd say the day was close to perfect.  Though I will say that when 6:00 rolled around (the allotted time of world termination) I was relieved it wasn't the last day on earth.  I would really prefer to have Todd with me for that.  But other than that, it would have been a good last day.


So, tell me readers, what did your "last day" look like?