I printed out the infamous free printables including the tie banner floating around the internet (is it just me, or is it challenging to get a good picture of a banner?). 
My husband rarely needs anything, and doesn’t desire much (lucky me!!)…so I bought him a pair of workout shorts (which he DID need). Other than that, we enjoyed some family time to celebrate dad’s day. Here’s our happy family…
Short post, another catch up day. Today consisted of to-do lists and packing to return home. =( No outlandish Cool Summer Days activities (basically, Cooper got to watch A Bug’s Life in the car). While accomplishing said tasks, my son asked to get into Grammy’s trunk. He was thrilled to sit in the trunk for at least a good 1/2 hour. Oh to be a kid! Revel in the joy through your child fellow parents! =)
We arrived during the weekly “hymn sing” and I’m thinking to myself, “Perfect…a 2 1/2 year old and a group of elderly people singing out of hymn books, great combo!” There happened to be an empty chair next to my grandma, so Cooper and I took a seat and opened a hymnal. Wouldn’t you know, Cooper was fascinated and sat quietly on my lap for a good 20 minutes while the entire room beamed with happiness while watching him. I had 2 thoughts while we “crashed” the hymn sing…
#1: Join planned activities at your local senior home and spread some youth!
This sounds a bit insensitive, but I think you’ll get where I’m coming from here. Visiting a senior home with kids is PRICLESS to the tenants. However, it is also very draining and, at times, awkward!! So my thought was this…look up activities being held at your local senior home and ask if it’d be alright if you joined in the fun. That way, you have something distracting you, but the tenants are still getting the same amount of joy from your visit.
#2: Your stage in life completely changes your perspective on things!
For example, how 18 years old feels SO old when you’re 6, but when you’re 30, 18 years old feels QUITE young. This realization donned on me as we were singing the words to some of the hymns. Read the words in the following hymns, with the perspective in mind of that of an elderly person. So much more truth, right?
“How Great Thou Art”
“When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!”
“The Old Rugged Cross”
“To that old rugged cross I will ever be true,
its shame and reproach gladly bear;
then he’ll call me some day to my home far away,
where his glory forever I’ll share.”
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I’m not the type to get all choked up, but as I looked around the room, realizing many of the tenants might live those truths out within the next few months, it was quite humbling and a good reminder to…carpe diem! Which we promptly did following our visit.
We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, rode the trolley at the Americana, sat in 2 1/2 hours of LA traffic, and had a family dinner at home with our ENTIRE immediate family, spouses and “adopted” kids included. =)
Our first full day in LA was dedicated to going to the beach! Cooper was very excited to play in the sand and build big sandcastles. The idea was courtesy of 2 of his favorite books:
How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long
I purchased this book for Cooper’s first birthday, thinking it may be too long for him. It is long for that age, but he loved it from the get go! It’s a fantastic pirate book invoking fantastic imaginative play.
AND…
Olivia by Ian Falconer
While we love this book, and will probably be purchasing more (now that I have a girl), Olivia is quite mischievous, potentially displaying undesired behavior to your child. But who are we kidding? Our children get that plenty from other places as well. So, why not take the opportunity to discuss it together while reading? In this book, Olivia becomes SO good at building sandcastles, she builds a skyscraper! =)
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We were a bit worried when we first arrived to the beach, it was raining!! We even had to ditch our normal breakfast spot and go to IHOP. Clearly, Cooper was disappointed:
Cooper was still pretty dead set on playing in the sand, so we decided to give it a go and…surprise…we ended up with nice weather! We went from this:
Today was sort of a recovery day for all of us. My kids had driven down 6 1/2 hours south the night before, getting in at 3am, and hubby and I drove down during the day today, arriving to LA around 7pm. The kids went to sleep before Aunt Annie and Uncle Scott flew in (which was kind of nice because then we had a few hours of adult time with them, which was wonderful!). But we were all looking forward to hanging out with family. Yes, the drives were long, but time with family is priceless. Can’t wait to have them closer! Here they are with their niece and nephew. Yay!
FYI – Annie’s great with kids, Allie was TIIIRED!
I’ve mentioned I like to prepare in advance. I thought it’d be nice for Cooper to maintain some routine while Ryan and I were gone (I know, I know…it was only for 2 1/2 days! Nonetheless). So Grandma took Cooper to the story time at Karen's Bakery. They got to see a tortoise! Look into the fun, local story times in your area during the summer. This one can get a little crazy, especially with the construction going on right now, but Cooper loves his routine and looks forward to it each month, crazy or not! Here he is petting the tortoise.
