Chasing Crickets

Today was one of those perfect days.

The kids slept in and snuggled in bed with us.

We ate pancakes together at a reasonable time (9 am) instead of the usual early morning breakfast.

Everyone was ready and out of the house on time for our day of adventure. The weather was gorgeous all day. It felt like a little bit of summer and a little bit of fall.

We spent several hours at the annual Mt. Laurel Fall Festival at our local park. It was our first time and we hoped that there would be lots of fun things to see or do. The kids loved looking around at the vendors, dancing, music and food but there was ONE winner for sure. Several firetrucks, ambulances and police cars were available for the kids to climb in and around. Our kids loved it. Everyone was so nice and so excited to show them around. We were grateful for the opportunity to have another conversation with the kids about safety and about how important these people's jobs were. They both sat for quite a while with Steve in the ambulance while an EMT showed them the equipment they used and how they would take care of them if they were sick.

After a while, we took another walk around everything and went to the far end of the park to play on the equipment. Josiah finally learned to climb the rock walls (with help from daddy) and Lilly kept Steve busy running from one end of the slides to the other. Noah and I hung out in the shade and I enjoyed watching him stand and bang his hands on the back of the bench, laughing and cooing the whole time.

We swung through Chick-fil-A for a late lunch and then it was home for naps and relaxation. Steve and I snuck in a couple episodes of The West Wing before Josiah came lumbering out. He and I ran a few errands together (finally found the boys clothes for my sister's wedding!) and then it was home for a late dinner and playtime. The kids were still restless so I took them on a walk around the block. Steve gave them glow sticks which was perfect for hunting crickets, leaves, and pinecones in the semi-darkness of evening.

It was a bit of a production to corral them in for pjs and milk, but soon it was quiet except for the cars in the distance and the crickets outside of the windows. Noah has long since fallen asleep, but Steve is still in there snuggling with the big kids.

We needed a day to enjoy each other. There were so many times that Steve and I had to hide our smiles at the funny things they said or help them when they were nervous to go inside the firetrucks or other vehicles but really wanted to anyway.

I have iPhone pictures galore, but I'm having technical difficulties at the moment. I can't wait to share them with you.

Wishing my Jewish friends a great holiday weekend...can't wait to go apple picking with the kids tomorrow or the next day!