Play Day

You looked out the window and, not for the first time, thought about how wrong the weather forecast had been. You had a big day planned. Last night, after the kids went to bed, you had gotten out five beach towels, five pairs of goggles, numerous diving toys, floaties, and beach sandals. You had loaded up the car last night, also, so you could surprise the kids. They were feeling neglected since you had been working so much on your novel. It was time for a family day. You figured all of you could use the break. You were feeling almost giddy about the surprise. You headed to the kitchen to pack a huge beach lunch and tons of snacks. You just knew this was going to be one of the best days ever. You took a look at your checklist. Wake up the kids, have breakfast, tell kids what the surprise is so they can dress appropriately, have them get dressed, spend the day at the beach. You have a bounce in your step as you pack up the lunch. You were almost done when a huge crack of thunder rudely broke into your thoughts. Your first thought was that there was no way it was thunder. It must be something else. Another enormous crack of thunder, and then through the curtains you see a huge bolt of lightning. You had watched the weather forecast yesterday at 6 am, noon, 6 pm, and again at 10 pm. The weather person had said it would be a gorgeous day with low humidity. He had mentioned that there might be a few clouds, but nothing to worry about. In other words, perfect beach weather. You walk over to the door, knowing already what you are going to see when you look out there. You open the door that leads to the driveway, and just as you do, there is yet another huge crack of thunder, immediately followed by a bolt of lightning, and then it began to pour. You go back inside quickly and turn on the television. You locate a weather report and sit to watch. The weather person is claiming that this storm came out of nowhere, and will be hanging around for the majority of the day. You hurl a few expletives at the television, including a couple aimed directly at the weather person, then you turn off the television and go back to the kitchen. 

You sigh. Now you have to find something to entertain the kids all day long. And they bore so damn easily, this generation. You head to the kitchen to start breakfast. No sense in waking the kids any earlier than necessary. You take out the ingredients and begin. Once breakfast is ready, you call to the kids, all four of whom come dragging into the kitchen and sit down. You serve breakfast and they eat. Then they ask what you will be doing with them today. Good thing you didn’t mention the beach trip to them. You knew that they were looking forward to this mom and kid time, and you don’t want to disappoint. What in the world are you going to do now? The second oldest interrupts your thoughts, complaining that he lost his slime. He loses everything, so this is no surprise. Suddenly, an idea occurs to you. You tell the kids to wait at the table, and you head to the back room, which serves as a kind of craft / catch all room. You go into the closet and find a book of science experiments. You head back to the kitchen, and as you enter you tell the kids to get dressed in old clothes. They head out to get dressed, and you start looking things up in the science experiments book. You find a recipe for slime, and start pulling the ingredients from the cabinet. You continue to look up different experiments and pulling ingredients. Once the kids return, you tell them that you have a fun time planned. You think, screw the weather. You tell the kids that the first thing you are all going to do is make slime. They begin squealing and jumping up and down. You tell them that after the slime, you have several other experiments. The experiments take up half the day, which pleases you very much. When all of the experiments are done, and the kids are pretty much done with this activity anyway, you tell them to wash up and meet you in the living room. They head out to do as told. You head to the living room, set up the game table, and grab a notepad. You quickly jot down a bunch of board game names that you have, such as Monopoly, Sorry, Life, and Uno. You put all the names in a hat so that they could draw them later to determine what games to play in what order. You called the kids, and they built a fort with blankets in the den and had their picnic lunch that you had packed for the beach. After lunch, everyone went into the other room and spent the rest of the afternoon playing board games. At dinner time, you ordered pizza and while everyone ate, you all watched a movie together. After dinner, you told the kids to get washed up, get into pajamas, and meet you in the kitchen. The final activity you had planned for your impromptu at – home fun day was to make ice cream sundaes. When the kids entered the kitchen, you had already put out everything on the table and the five of you made gigantic ice cream sundaes. You sent them to brush their teeth, and then you read them five stories. One that each of them selected, and one that you did. As you tucked the kids into bed, the oldest gave you a much tighter hug than usual, and whispered in your ear that this was the absolute best day ever. You smiled. When you left their rooms, you went to get ready for bed yourself. Thinking of what your child had just told you, you tear up. That comment was worth every second you spent today making plans by the seat of your pants. You decided right then that this would be a once a month event, and silently you praised the weather person for getting the forecast so wrong.