Breaking the Pattern for Fun

Back in 2010, I wrote a post asking if other people have jam-packed weekends like ours. Of course, not many of you were actually reading this blog back in 2010, so it didn't get a lot of responses, but I've thought back on it often. We seem to have aged out of the crush of little kid birthday parties that used to occupy a big portion of our weekend time, but our weekends still tend to be very busy. There's the usual chores around the house, synagogue time, errands and shopping, but we usually manage to get some fun thrown in there too. Still, this past Saturday felt like a real rarity, as we basically went from one fun activity to another.

The day started early, as Hannah and I went to get our hair blown out at the new Be Styled, which was really fun. Hannah's hair looked amazing, and she said she felt like an American Girl doll. I wasn't as thrilled with my hair this time around, but it was still fun to be together. Then we went home and picked up Marc and Max to head to Brooksby Farm in Peabody to take family photos. This was actually my birthday present to myself this year (my birthday is in a week), and once Max got over some initial nervousness, I think we all had a great time. Hopefully I'll have some great new pictures to share in a couple of weeks. The kids took the reins from there and we went to Friendly's for lunch, followed up by seeing the movie "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2." The kids liked the movie; I liked taking a little nap during it. :)

Saturday night was a rare night out for Marc and me, and we headed to Lowell. We had gotten tickets to see the play "God of Carnage," which was about two couples meeting in the aftermath of their children's fight on the playground. We really liked it, and had a lot to discuss about it with each other afterward. We also had a great dinner and even better drink before the show, which isn't something I do very often.

On Friday night, just before bed, Marc and Hannah admitted that they were both kind of dreading the following day. We were all really tired from the week, and had gone to synagogue that night too. It was late, and the next day's schedule looked like too much. I countered that it was all good things, a day of things we'd all enjoy. They were skeptical. But somehow, the day of fun did end up winning them over. We all had a great day, and it didn't follow any of our usual patterns at all.

Sunday was a bit of a wake up call--we're leaving a lot unaccomplished--but all of it can wait. I'm glad we seized the moment to have fun. And now I'm going to search the calendar for when we can do it again.