You know those days that you don’t plan out to be perfect, but somehow all the stars align and everything just works together? That was Saturday.

It actually didn’t start out as anything perfect. I woke up around 4 in the morning to get work done so I could spend the day with my two T’s, and was determined to close my laptop by 8:00am, so I was in a rush to get things done at the beginning. And then Little T had a bit of a rough start. He was upset about not being able to watch a certain show, and threw the remote on the ground in perfect toddler tantrum fashion. It broke into pieces, and I think he was shocked that it broke the way it did. Even though Big T could fix the remote, we decided no t.v. for the weekend.

I never expected those decisions to be as hard as they are. It’s easy to look on the outside and think you’ll do things a certain way as a parent, but when it gets down to it, and you have to watch someone you love cry and feel upset, it is the absolute worst. 😦 But, deep down I know it’s for the best and so the softie in me sucks it up.

He was still cranky about the morning when we got to soccer, but the day got better as it went on. Little T did so good at soccer practice. He really likes his coach and is getting better at all the drills. He still would rather play basketball and asks if he can dribble the ball every once in a while, but we can’t find a basketball team for his age yet.

After soccer, we went to the Claremont Pilgrim Place Festival. The retirement community puts on the annual festival to raise funds for their retirement program, and I always love going when we can. They all dress like Pilgrims, and their retirement art clubs, wood crafting groups, and different organizations all have tables where they show off what they’ve been working on for the past year and sell the things they have made. Little T and I play a game at these things, and we try to find five cool things to show each other before the day is out. It’s always interesting for me to see what he thinks is worthy of pointing out for the game.

We parked far away and Little T and I had a great walk on the way there (Big T ran errands and met us later). Little T , as usual, looked for the biggest sticks he could find while we walked. I’m always amazed at his ability to find sticks no matter where we are. 🙂

When we got there, Little T had his face painted like a pirate. He kind of looked like a pirate Harry Potter to me! Expellirarrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhmus! :p

After the face painting, we went to our favorite area-“the Glue Station”. All the residents collect things like bottle caps for the year, and then hand the kids cups full of glue and a piece of cardboard. The kids then take the bottle caps and leaves and odds and ends to make a piece of art with the glue onto their cardboard canvas. 

Little T worked hard on his art, and told me he was making the Indiana Jones ride. He’s never been on the Indiana Jones ride before, and so it’s a much talked about mystery to him. He kept adding things that he imagined would be there, like hot lava and traps. 🙂

He was doing so well after a rough morning, so we got him a snow cone, and one for big T too. 😉

Then we rode on the “Mayflower”, it’s a tour bus designed by the crafter retirees. They made the whole thing look like a boat on wheels! On the Mayflower, were given a tour of the retirement community and talked a little bit about pilgrim life. Little T sat next to a kindred spirit, who laughed with him every time we went over a speed bump and the tour guide said it was a whale bumping the boat! 🙂 Hilarious stuff, guys!!!!

After the Mayflower, we decided it was time to head back and walked to the car. Little T found the biggest stick of all, and I found the prettiest house with ivy all over it, and so everyone was happy. 🙂 The walk turned into a run when Little T announced to everyone that he had to find a potty, lol. Don’t worry though, we made it there okay! Phew!

Little T with the stick he found:

My dream house! 🙂

When we made it home, Little T wanted to put his art on display! Pretty impressive, Little T! Do you see the resemblance to Indiana Jones? I do! :p

When we got home, Little T took a much needed nap, and I finished up some work from the morning. I was kind of amused at my sleeping Harry Potter Pirate, note to self: next time remove face paint before nap-time, or there will be a Harry Potter Pirate face imprint on the pillow. :p

After Little T woke up, we all cleaned the house together. Little T prefers making messes to cleaning, but he did his best! Whenever we clean, he likes using the feather duster, and even though I always have to go back and redo everything he just did (shhhhhh), he thinks this is the best task of all.

When we had a cleaning break, we did some learning games on my iPad. We use Agnitus, a great app for working on reading and math. As a side note, the other apps/games he loves are anything from Toca Boca, especially Toca Boca “Boo”.

When we finished all of that, we got ready to go to our neighbors house for a chili party. Our neighbors work in the Ag department at Cal Poly, and have the sweetest pet pig named Penelope. Little T wanted to show them one of his favorite toys, his barn with his horses. 🙂

Our neighbors put out the cutest tent for Little T to play in. This photo was taken before the other kids arrived and they all ran around like maniacs.

Little T had a great time. It reminded me of being young and finding new friends at grown up parties, such a fun and new feeling. I remember being that age and hearing the murmurs and laughter from grown ups in the background, and wondering what they could possibly be talking about that was more interesting than running around and playing. Wondering if I’d ever enjoy just sitting around and talking like them. Seems so long ago. 🙂

Big T and I loved talking and getting to know our neighbors better and having uninterrupted grown up conversations at a non-work event, something that doesn’t happen too often for us. Our hosts made a perfect vegetarian chili too! It was so sweet that they stepped out of their comfort zone and made it for us, and wow, it was so good! We teased that we were going to stop by for more veggie food now that we know they’re so good at it! 😉

Little T was worn out when he got home, and even debated having me skip his bedtime book, but in the end he listened to me read with droopy eyes, and yawned and told me he’d had a good day, before drifting into dreamland.

So anyway, it may not seem like much, but it’s always these simple days that seem the nicest to me. The ones where you get to take your time and enjoy what’s happening right in front of you, without the distractions of a crazy busy grown up life, and I’m always so glad when they come up. And wow, two posts in a week! I’m on a roll! 🙂