The day started out well enough, kids woke up from sleepover fun and began playing together well so I sipped my coffee and watch a little morning TV. My original plan for Wednesday had been the Art Day at Symphony Square, an outside auditorium, where the kids can hear a performance and then do crafts, have snacks and get close up views of the instruments. We would have then hit up Auditorium Shores for the splash pad and our favorite snow cone place on Barton Springs. I'd also tossed around a trip to Hula Hut or Mozarts and maybe a climb around Mt. Bonnell. A great downtown day, I'd thought.
Cracks had begun to form in my plan on Tuesday though, when after two days in the sun with sun screen both kids were still noticeably pink. I began to rethink another day spent outside. Maybe a movie would be the better way to go and many of the theaters have great free or $1 movie selections during the week so I'd gone to bed mentally thinking that maybe the better way to to go. I just had to talk them out of new releases as my bank account was beginning to appear dangerously low. Conveniently (and I say that sarcastically), most the free movies start around 10, which means getting there earlier and everyone was playing so well together that morning that I didn't have the heart to interrupt them and try to get everyone dressed, fed and out the door that early. So when they finally came in hungry it was after 9 and those were suddenly out the door as well. After MUCH bickering an afternoon showing of the Lorax and a picnic at the neighborhood park was decided as the plans for the day after we had breakfast.
Well that's when a few mishaps outside of our control occurred so it was well after 10 before I took us all to IHOP, my frustration in need of a waffle. Things were looking up, we had decided to have a picnic lunch at the neighborhood park and then go see an afternoon showing of The Lorax at the dollar movie.
After breakfast we returned home and I decided to double check the movie time on the theaters website. There I found out the movie was either sold out or cancelled. I couldn't believe it, what was I supposed to do now? I started to feel overwhelmed, the kids were arguing, I had no idea what to do with the rest of the day. All the fun kid stuff had occurred in the morning and I'd decided to skip those and let the kids play. Now we had nothing. As the arguing grew louder and my brain began to tell me I was a failure, I had my breakdown. I sat in front of my laptop on the floor of my bedroom and sobbed. That's when something snapped and I lost it. I got up and demanded everyone in the car now, we were leaving and I didn't know where we were going, but we couldn't remain in the house. Looking confused/amused the kids filed past me and hussled to the car.
2 minutes into the car ride I began to think clearly through my mania and what I call "Amyia" began to set in. As I drove to a retail area that boast multiple, shops restaurants and movie theater I first thought that we'd go see Ice Age, but then Amyia set in and I started thinking through things. We couldn't go to a movie, I didn't have sweaters for the kids and they were both in tank tops, what if they got cold? We didn't have snacks and I can't really afford movie theater food. I was in a skirt and flip flops, I can't watch a movie in a skirt and flip flops, I need jeans and closed toed shoes for maximum movie theater comfort. What was I doing? My mania floated away and I felt silly. But we were almost to our destination, so we got out and checked the movie times and realized we were too late and too early for the Ice Age sequel and neither of the kids were too interested in that one any way. Instead we walked over to the Half Price books eager for some air conditioning after 15 minutes in my car with broken air conditioning. The kids each found a Scooby Doo book on the clearance shelf so after we paid Carolina made the best comment all week of "I could really use something cold to drink." That sounded absolutely wonderful so I looked around for the closest place and spotted a Spicey Pickle across the parking lot. No food, I warned them, just drinks and they agreed as we walked over to what the place that would end up being our salvation!
As we sat in front of our drinks, Coke for me, lemonade for the kids, everything clicked. All the tension went away as we sipped our drinks and relaxed. We started cracking jokes and Carolina taught Avery a drawing game we'd played in Spain with Malu, Pablo and Lourdes.
One person draws a the head of the person and we pass the paper around and everyone adds something, not seeing anyone elses until the end. Soon we were laughing and drawing people with bird bodies and roller skating legs! We couldn't stay there forever though, so I pulled up my Red Box app and a movie was quickly agreed up for the remainder of the afternoon.
After the movies when nerves once again became a litte frayed we hit up the local park where the girls went on an adventure walk while I read a and found a new hideout that they were excited to tell me I was not allowed to see, it was for kids only! They loved telling me about their "adventure" and I didn't tell them that they hadn't gone too far, I had been able to hear them the whole time!
The day will not go down as the best ever, but it was a day that helped me learn to roll with the punches a little and taught be that all important lesson that sometimes you just need to get out and get a drink.
