Getting off the Sidelines

I'll admit it.  I have a hard time doing a lot of kid activities.  Building blocks, legos, role playing, coloring.  I can stomach about five minutes.  And then I'm bored out of my mind.  In contrast there is Phil who can do all of that pretty much anytime and stay there more than a brief moment.  The kids adore him because he plays.  I struggle with playing, even in my own downtime.  I love to read, but mostly it is for learning sake, novels are more of the exception than the norm.  Love my sewing time, but again, it usually is something useful.  There has to be value in what I'm spending my time on, or I just don't see the point.  So I'm the parent who takes her kids to the park, but am sitting on the bench waving and smiling.   I try and find toys that don't require adults because I know I won't want to sit with them and 'play' it.  Most of the games I get are 'educational'.  I realize that this makes me seem like a pretty dull mom, but I'm ok with that.  I'll be the level headed, even keeled parent.  It works for me.

Last night I got off the sidelines a little bit and had a blast.  We went to the pumpkin patch for the last two hours before it closed.  I decided that this year I wanted to have some fun.  Something about that massive gunny sack slide was just calling out my name.  Plus I knew that climbing all those stairs would help me stay warm!  I know that the kids had just as much fun as I did, and perhaps it was just a bit more special since I was actually participating.

If you're waiting to hear that I had an epiphany about needing to add more play to my day you're going to be waiting awhile!  I've always been the 'serious' one.  It's just part of my personality.  In fact this week I just took a personality test and scored huge points on things like 'value, organization, clean workspace, lists, etc'  I love who I am as a mom, and the little people must as well for they say I love you mama quite frequently :)

Feel free to be shocked as I am placing a multitude of pictures that Phil took for us last night.

Sign in the lounge area that we liked, too bad it wasn't for sale!

Wesley playing in the corn box

Lizzi being her glamorous self

Friends!

Apparently he really liked the corn box!

getting ready to ride on the little train

Abi on the zipline

Phil wanted a picture of a country girl, guess I fit the bill :)

Phil taking the kids down the big slide

Me getting off the sidelines for a bit

The pumpkin patch, where we found two perfect pie pumpkins

smores + climbing the bridge = one happy little guy

Wesley and his lady 

he was all about conquering-went down that huge slide all by himself, rode the train, climbed the bridge, oh yeah!

all of the Braden kids are the same ages as our kids and our wonderful friends