Okay, I suppose in reality my family is quite busy. I have a husband who started his own business and works 100 hours a week, 2 girls who go to school all day and activities all night, a little boy who goes to preschool and occupies himself with destroying stuff and pretending to be a ninja, and one baby who is busy doing baby things like drooling and learning fine motor skills.
And I spend my days "mommin' it up" in my finest workout gear, keeping kids alive, keeping schedules straight, and making sure the four walls of our little suburban home don't come crashing down. But for a mom like me who has been reluctantly filling in the title of HOMEMAKER on all important forms for the better part of a decade, it sure does sometimes feel like those walls are closing in.
Its ironic isn't it: A stay at home mom who hates staying home. A homemaker who
So when the weekend comes, the only thing I want to do is blow this town, get out and have some fun! I love hiking, and walking, and going to the beach and the city. I think we've explored every state park in Connecticut, every playground, every zoo, every museum, every lake and ocean beach. I am obsessed with giving my kids experiences instead of toys.
But lately, I've been experiencing some push-back from my lazy family. Since Joe stays up all night programming, he's always tired these days and wants to sleep in. Fair enough. Also, we must feign motivation for our 100 half-finished home improvement projects for at least a few hours every weekend. The kids love having their downtime too...but there are only so many times one can handle watching Hotel Transylvania 2 in succession without losing one's mind. I swear, the five of them would just hang around in their PJs until 4pm on a Saturday afternoon if I didn't turn off the TV and kick 'em out the door.
Then there are weekend sports. Nothing can kill a weekend like sports. When I was a kid, I would only sign up for a team sport if a) my friends were doing it and b) there were snacks. Usually, I'd hate it by the second week and beg my parents to quit. This worked about 50% of the time. I figured it would be different as a grownup and I would at least be vaguely interested in watching my own kids play sports...alas, not so much. That said, I admit I am proud of Fiona who is a super athlete and competitive swimmer. Right now, she's the only one interested, so thankfully our weekends are not monopolized by sports just yet. But as people frequently like to remind me, that day will come soon enough.
Kids' birthday parties can ruin weekend plans too. Now that I have three in school, it seems like there's at least one per weekend from September through June. Which is fine- my kids have birthday parties too so I can't complain that much . Besides, they're fun FOR KIDS (I'm not talking about adult- friendly parties with beer and music and stuff; I'm talking about Bounce Town, and trampoline places, and basically anywhere hot and loud). I was so very grateful for the day my kids reached the magic age where drop off parties became the status quo....'cause ain't nobody got time for that, even if you're not in the #fourkidsclub.
So I persist, despite copious amounts of whining, complaining and occasional carsickness, to take my kids out every weekend for fun adventures. Even if it's a trip to IKEA for meatballs and plastic plates, I'll take it as a way to sneak in a trip to Lighthouse point park or stroll around downtown New Haven. I'll let the kids trash the car with cookies and fast food if it gets me a day in New York or Boston.
Why is this so important to me, you may ask? Its true; I have an almost pathological aversion to "taking it easy" on weekends- to the point where I will be in a lousy mood all day if I don't have time for some sort of outing. When I was a little kid, my mom would teach college on weekends, so my dad took my brothers and I on all sorts of adventures in our Toyota Tercel Wagon, just to pass the time. We would explore every corner of the state and beyond, while listening to classic rock (or what was considered classic rock 20 years ago!). John Paul George and Ringo have taught me so much about life, and I still know every Beatles lyric by heart. Mostly everything thing I know about history comes from some Billy Joel song. Listening to Jefferson Airplane and Crosby Stills and Nash turned into discussions about the Vietnam War and the McCarthy era- things my boomer dad lived through- and digressed into lessons about culture and politics and humanity. I developed a fondness for maps long before the days of GPS.
I remember us kids doing a fair amount of complaining too, but Pops was resolute. Those adventures while we were "killing time" on weekends- trips to mountains, cities, parks and beaches- turned out to be the happiest memories of my childhood. On the weekends we were totally free- from school, work and social obligations. Maybe it wasn't exactly how a typical family spends their weekend, but it was our special thing, and we continued our "wild goose chases" through my teen years and even beyond. When we lost my dad in 2008, Fiona was 17 months old, and my younger three hadn't been born. Oh how he would have loved being their "Pops".
My crazy manic weekends shuffling my kids around on family outings might seem overly ambitious to some, but for me they're as natural as can be. And necessary. This is my way of making sure my dad's legacy lives on. (I should also mention here that Joe is a very, very good sport about all of this- just as he is with everything else I do
So kids, as long as I'm your mama, I'll be dragging you out of your lazy tv haze and your pjs and into the great big world on weekends. I'll deal with your pouting and bad attitudes, because in the end, we all have some fun on our trips, and you know it. These, my darlings, are your childhood memories-- time with your family--because in the blink of an eye you'll be grown.
Plus, it's 2016 and iPads have been invented; you kids have NOTHING to complain about.
Here are a few of my favorite family outings in and around Connecticut:
1) Stratton Brook State Park - Great little pond with hiking trails (and a tree that was struck by lightning on the day Brendan was born). Low key and unpretentious, the water isn't the cleanest, but its shallow for little kids. They can also borrow fishing poles and visit the nature center.
2) Roger Williams Park & Zoo- ok, this one is in Providence, but it's worth the 1:45 min drive from Hartford. Its a smaller zoo which is very walkable for little kids. There's also a farm petting zoo area, and a huge playground and water park. And camel rides! Their jack o lantern spectacular in October might be my favorite thing we do all year. After the zoo, we always head to the carosel (also in RW park) and hit up Atwells Ave for some Italian food, of course.
3) Sleeping Giant State Park- my favorite part of my hometown. The blue and white trails are great for adults, but the winding, flat tower trail is perfect for four small whining kids. It's always worth it when you make it to the castle! Plus, there's bathrooms at the top now- score! I always like to head down to New Haven for some Modern Apizza or Mamoun's Falafel after a hike at Sleeping Giant or West Rock.
4) Horsebarn Hill at Uconn- Joe and I met at UConn 13 years ago, and we're obviously never going to make it out of Connecticut, so we take our kids here often. The dairy and beef cattle, as well as the horses and sheep are very accessible, and the kids love seeing all the baby animals in the Spring. You can also watch horse shows, and bike or walk around campus. My kids love eating lunch at the student union (famous mac & cheese) and OF COURSE ice cream at the Dairy Bar.
5)Burlingame Campground- Not that I enjoy camping or anything, but we've made this a tradition and have stayed here every summer since we got married. I love the throwback general store with the $2 mystery grab bags. There's a great little lake and playground, and there are kids on bikes everywhere. Also, it's right across the street from the Charlestown RI beaches.
6) Silver Sands State Park/ Charles Island- It's so much fun to walk out to Charles Island at low tide. As a kid, I was terrified/ thrilled by the idea of the tide coming in before we left and being stranded. Bonus: the island is "haunted"!
7) Rocky Neck State Park- Best beach in CT for little kids! On East Beach at low tide, the sand bar stretches out as far as you can see. Five years of Power-Timmeny Beach Days happened at Rocky neck.
8) Lake McDonough- It's not only a cool place to swim, but for $5 you can rent a rowboat too. When my brothers and I were little, we buried a time capsule on one of the islands (not sure if we ever found it again...) Also there is a great drive in movie theater nearby.
Today has been quite the outstanding Monday- complete with homework drama, after school activities, 4 bloody noses (all on one girl), and of course, Hotel Transylvania 2 (is there even a part 1??). Looking forward to next weekend will certainly carry me through 4 more days of this.
Have a good Tuesday, everyone.
xo
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