Super Fun Spontaneous Saturday

When we aren't traveling, Saturdays tend to be a day of getting things done.  Yard work.  Laundry.  Tidying up the house.  Again.  There's usually a lot of TV featuring some kind of sporting event or marathon Discovery Channel show.  And as the day draws to an end, I'm sometimes left feeling ho-hum about a wasted day.  Perhaps this is why yesterday was so awesome...because it stood in stark contrast to our normal Saturdays! :)

When we woke up Saturday morning, the sun was bright and shiny and full of beckoning adventure.  We briefly considered taking a family hike, something we haven't done in a long time.  But one step outside to let the dogs out told us it was gonna way too cold for that!  We couldn't think of anything fun, but we had a few errands to run in Kearney- the bank, a  drop off to Goodwill- so we loaded everyone up and took off.

After our two errands, we were in need of some fun.  But what?  We decided to head to our local animal shelter to visit the animals there.  We spent an hour checking out each dog and cat (and mouse, eek!).  It was fun to hear the kids talk about their favorite animals and which one they would choose if we were going to get one.  A year ago, I'm not sure we would have "wasted" time looking at the cats.  But 6 months on the farm with a couple of barn cats (for necessity, you know, to control the mice population!) and we were admiring the cats.  Most were very much sissy-cats.  But there was one who's note said he would make a good hunter.  I have to say, I thought about buying that cat.  Ugh, what has happened to me?!  I really don't like cats.  I mean, I really don't.  Except that I am starting to...boo!  My sister would be so pleased!

Finishing up at the animal shelter, we were up for something else.  Off to the mall!  It just happened to be sidewalk sales!  However, I'm not sure if any of you know how delightful it can be to shop with 5 young children...We decided shopping was not the kind of fun we were looking for.  So we decided that Chinese for lunch would work.  Yum.  :)

Now what?  Bowling!

Amana bowled once a few years ago at a birthday party, and she's the only child with experience.  I can't even remember the last time I strapped on some bowling shoes.  But we had some fun!  Lige and I are AWFUL bowlers!  I think that fact somehow helped the kids enjoy it more...several of them beat our best efforts!  Amana beat Lige by 17 points and me by....well, let's just say she beat me good.  New and unknown experiences can be hard on Anlynn.  As we were going in to bowl she expressed some concern.  I was so proud to see her push through that uncertainty and just have a good time.  There have been other experiences like this where she would have been paralyzed with fear, unable to try or enjoy herself.  Not this time.  She came it dead last and kept saying "I stink at bowling!" , but she left the alley talking about how she can't wait to do it again.  I love that.  :)

After this much fun we would have normally been ready to call it a day.  But this Saturday was a day of "yeses".  So what did we do?  We took the kids to a movie!  We saw Rise of the Guardians.  We enjoyed it a lot.  One reason I liked it so well was because the hero was a boy.  With so many years of one princess after another, I liked having a boy to root for.  During the movie, my three year old Isaac says of Jack Frost, "He's kinda like Peter Pan!"  That made me smile. 

Well for sure now our day would draw to an end, right?  Nope.  We snagged some Little Caesar's Pizza to eat at home.  After pizza we finished out the night with a couple games of FIBBER. We got it for Christmas and it's a fun game.  It's similar to the card game BS ("Bible Study" is what I called it growing up, but it stands for something else...).  But you also get to where funny glasses and grow a nose like Pinocchio.  There were a lot of giggles.

 This was such a Super Fun Spontaneous Saturday.  It was so fun to be able to surprise our kids (and ourselves) by piling one fun thing onto another.  As I prayed for our kids last night, I prayed that this day would become a treasured memory for each of them.

I know that we can't have days like this every Saturday.  I know that it isn't healthy for our kids to hear "yes" to their every whim and demand on normal days.  But this day was special.  On this day, the kids didn't ask for anything.  As one activity came to close, Lige and I would offer other ideas for what might be next, and we just said "yes" to ourselves.  "Go bowling or to a movie?" YES!  "Eat out for lunch or for dinner?"  YES!  I think Lige and I were both surprised by how much fun we had and how well the kids did with a jamb-packed day.  And while we can't always have fun-filled days like this, we can add some fun to each day.  I'm inspired to throw more bits of fun into our normal days.