June 21

What a long, glorious day! Before you read this post, you should bop over to my friend Amber's blog and read her post and see her fantastic pictures about our fun playdate yesterday. She's such a talented photographer!

Are you back? I started the morning by going out to breakfast with some friends, which was just what I needed. Chris and the kids stayed home and played, and when I got back Lily had just gone down for her nap and the big kids were ready for lunch. Caleb was really missing Mommy, and feeling a little bit needy since he got to bed late last night, but I needed to get lunch ready. I had just read an article about how Babywearing can be great for big kids, too, especially ones with sensory processing disorders or other special needs. The close contact with their caregiver and the pressure of the wrap can do some pretty remarkable things. With this concept fresh in my mind, I asked Caleb if he wanted to ride on my back. He was thrilled!

That's my 40-pound almost-five-year-old rocking a double hammock in my linen wrap. He was so happy up there, and he cried when it was time for me to set him down. Amazingly, it wasn't painful or uncomfortable to carry him around; he didn't even feel that heavy! However, when I set him down my whole body seemed to spring back up a few inches. 

When Daisy saw that her brother was being wrapped, she wanted to go up, too. Chris is such a trooper - he willingly submitted to having Daisy wrapped up on his back. For him, I did a ruck tied at the shoulder with my short tablecloth wrap.

I love how happy she is! Poor Chris clearly thinks the situation is ridiculous, but he will do anything to make his daughter (and wife) happy. What a good man.

After lunch, Chris took Caleb and Daisy to the pool, and I took Lily grocery shopping. Lily woke from her nap with a low fever, which I hope is teething-related, so I thought it best to keep her with me. We got home right as Chris and the big kids returned, and Caleb and Daisy were exhausted. I put them both down for a "rest", knowing full well it would result in nap, then put Lily down for her nap, and we had some blessed silence.

After dinner, we hoped to see some college friends who were in town for the weekend. But before we went to see them, we crossed off an item on Caleb's summer to-do list: Turtle Park. 

Daisy was so excited to find a birthday cake at Turtle Park, and insisted on having her picture taken with it.

Caleb didn't want to have his picture taken with the cake, but I managed this shot with him off in the distance, running around the turtles.

As we drove to the park, Chris and I noticed some serious dark clouds to the north. They looked intense, but we hoped they wouldn't track far enough south to affect us. 

Wrong.

Just when the kids were really starting to climb and play, the wind started gusting cold and hard, and thunder and lightning came.

And like that, we had to leave Turtle Park. We seem to have a bad track record with that place, because the last time we went we had to leave really quickly because it was so cold! Maybe one day we'll actually get to play there for longer than ten minutes!

Our plan was to play at the park until Shawn and Rachel and their kids were ready to meet us for some frozen custard, but the storm threw a wrench in those plans. Since we were already on the road, Chris and I headed south to the custard place, hoping that maybe it wasn't storming there.

Wrong.

But we were already there, and we had already promised the kids custard, so Chris braved the storm and we enjoyed custard in the car.

Daisy is crazy-eyed because she had ice cream two nights in a row.

Lily attempted to drive the car and eat Daddy's custard at the same time. (Don't worry, Mom. The car was turned off and in park. She wasn't actually driving.)

Mmmm... custard....

And then I remembered that there was a birthday cake at the custard shop, too! Two cakes in one day!

Aren't they cute? We didn't stay like this for long - wouldn't want to risk a lightning strike!

Finally, we picked up some custard for Shawn and his family and met them at their hotel. 

My husband is handsome, no? I love how my children are the only ones not looking at the camera.

We ended up leaving the hotel well after 9:00, and the kids didn't get to bed until closer to 10. That is a really late night for us! We are serving in the church nursery tomorrow morning, so I'm hopeful the kids wake up feeling like normal human beings!