The Best Day

Today was the best day our little family has had for a while. It was so much fun from start to finish. It was one of those rare days where Al had the entire day off. Not only that, but he didn't have to study either. So we decided to really take advantage of all of that free time. Plus it was the first warm and sunny day that we've had in a very long time.

I packed a picnic for us in the morning and then we headed out to a big park in St. Peters, which is the next town after St. Charles. We let Avery play in the park for a while and then we put her in the stroller and went for a walk along the trails there. There were quite a few softball games in session and Avery was dying to jump in the game. She kept calling from the stroller, "Avery play baseball! Avery play baseball!"

When we got to the recplex parking lot we saw that there was a big Armed Forces Day event going on. In the parking lot were tons of vehicles--jeeps, big trucks, a Blackhawk and a boat from the Coast Guard. There were some troops there and also quite a few older veterans. Avery thought this was just fantastic. We had no idea all of this was going to be going on, so it was a bonus activity for us! We spent quite a bit of time walking around all of the vehicles (more pictures to follow). Avery cried when we left the Blackhawk. She thought that was pretty spectacular.

After that we walked along the trails some more and found a nice spot to have our picnic. Then we headed back to the park and let Avery play for a while longer. We kind of exhausted her and so we brought her home for a nap and Al and I lounged around and watched a movie. When Avery woke up we decided to take her to a petstore to look at the animals. She desperately wants to hold a 'birdie' and anytime she sees on outside she will chase it around crying out, "Hold it! Hold it! Avery hold the birdie!!" so we thought she'd enjoy the pet store. Boy did she ever. The cutest thing was when we took her to an aquarium that had mice in it. Some were on the wheel, running, and Avery turned to me and exclaimed, "Oh Mommy, look!!" She was just so excited. And she loved the fish and birds.

We ran to Wal-Mart and found a super cheap patio set to put in our tiny backyard. Al thinks it will be good for when we put our townhouse on the market in the next few months. He saw some programs on HGTV about creating a space and so that is what we have attempted to do. It does look pretty nice out there. Then we grilled burgers and finished the meal off with S'mores. It was delicious, but I feel sick from eating so much.

Usually when Al has part of the weekend off we feel so uncreative about what to do with our time and find ourselves at the mall, letting Avery play on the playground. Today was so much better than that. We enjoyed every second of being outside, together as a family. And we've all got the sunburns to prove it ;)