The sky was blue and clear with just the right amount of white fluffy clouds. The air was crisp and cool. The sun was bright and warm. It was a picture perfect autumn day.
Our quad, along with all nine of the children, a friend, our nanny and her fiancé loaded up our bus and headed out for an afternoon and evening of hanging out in the great outdoors: we headed to a local park for a picnic and a light and fireworks display. It’s not really the kind of thing a person gets all worked up about. In fact, it was rather spur of the moment decision to attend, but we’d been looking for an inexpensive outing with the whole crew, and this seemed to fit the bill.
Armed with blankets and quilts, folding chairs, coolers, and plenty of fried chicken, the sixteen of us sang merrily (yes, we sang – a little corny, but fun none the less) most of the hour drive across town. It began with a teenage version of “100 Bottles of Soda on the Wall” and we went full rounds of the new family show tunes. Those are the songs the children have each made up about our family, with recognizable TV tunes such as “The Addams Family” and “The Flintstones” theme songs. Apparently, Gomez and Morticia are not the only ones who are creepy and kooky. And we aren’t the “modern stone age family,” we are, in fact, a “uniquely blended family.” You just gotta’ love creative tweens, right?
We arrived in time to carry our belongings to the grassy knoll and stake out an acceptable site for eating, playing, and viewing. Each older child held the hand of a younger one, each parent had a box or cooler, and the ones stuck in the middle were keepers of the blankets. Once we claimed our spot, the child pairings began heading off to explore. They climbed on rocks, threw stones into the lake, watched a train go by, and rolled down a very nicely manicured hill; all to the contentment of some now hungry children.
We had a low tech afternoon, followed by a picnic and some high tech entertainment. Everyone was tired by the time we loaded the bus to head home, and we rolled into the driveway about 10:30; well after the children’s bedtime. During the drive, six of the ten children had succumbed to sleep and although we still were singing (to a CD this time) it was quieter and we had more chat time in between.
What’s so blog worthy about a peaceful afternoon out with the family? Not really a lot. The point is we are having some quality “normal” occur. It isn’t like we haven’t gone places and done things before. But that day, with things from our quad more in synch than they’ve been in months, our little spontaneous excursion gave me the feeling that just one more thing was going right for us.
It is a wonderful day indeed when we can take time to smell the flowers, skip rocks, and enjoy a meal on the grass with people that you could easily enjoy 24/7. The busyness of our lives and daily schedules sometimes precludes us from fully enjoying what we have in this life. Days like these don’t come around all that often, and I’m simply reveling in our special autumn togetherness.
~Goddess, 10-17-06
