The Search for Miss Direction: Babes in the Woods

It is outings like the one that we had tonight that make me remember how much I miss my kiddos when I am away from them even just for a couple of days. Because honestly, my twosome do not miss a beat and keep me smiling even when the rest of my mood is rather rotten.

This morning saw another pretty big step here at the Gatchel's - it was Kindergarten Roundup at Noah's new school. I had been debating for a few days if he was actually going to go since it meant him missing a whole day of regular school for an hour long orientation (side Kristi grumble on the fact that the private and public schools couldn't collaborate on their dates. Because to further the matter, OLS has no school on Friday for THEIR Kindergarten Roundup, meaning Noah will be out of school again...) but words of wisdom from my husband and my mom who helped me see that this would be a really good opportunity for Noah found us at Beechview this morning or Noah to spend some time in his classroom while Kayla and I went off to the parent meeting. (side Kristi huge smile - Mikayla was a real trooper this morning! She hung out, read books and didn't make a peep through the whole meeting). Noah had a great time, created a book which he read to us as soon as we got home and seems pretty taken with the idea of kindergarten. This Mama is grinning, bearing it and attempting to remember that they don't stay little forever nor would I really ever want that for them.

Then it was off to the grocery store to get supplies for the week and to pick up a special treat to celebrate International No Diet Day - any candy bar they wanted. Noah went with something new (maybe this school this is good for him!) with a Hershey's Cookies and Cream bar (he finished it in record time) and Mikayla chose Twix. I wasn't quite sure how else to celebrate International No Diet Day (since none of us are really on a diet around here) and had mentioned it to Grant last week. I asked him if he could have anything he wanted what would it be. "Could we order a pizza?" he suggested. I know this might sound a little ridiculous to most people out there, but it is a totally legit suggestion here. We don't really order pizza, 9 times out of 10 we all pitch in together and make it from scratch. Plus I genuinely like to cook for my family so we don't eat out a lot anyway. Alright, pizza it was! (And juices for the kids, sodas for the adults and cheese balls to really round out a solid dinner. I did make everyone have a banana, though)

To make it even more fun, we decided to take our pizza feast to the park for a picnic. We packed everything up and headed to Heritage Park. If I haven't said it lately Thank You God for this beautiful weather. We had a great time hanging out and filling Grant in on our very full day.

After dinner we decided to check out some of the nature trails the park has to offer. We'd been to the park plenty of times (it is where we sled, has a great play ground, it hosts the marshmallow launch and the hay fest) but I don't know that we'd ever really checked out the trails. It was beautiful! So we're trooping into the woods next to the sledding hills when the following occurs:

Noah: Did you know there aren't any bears around here?
Me: Bears?
Noah: Yeah, no bears.
Me: How do you know that?
Noah: Because there's mulch.
Me: What?
Noah: There are no bears where there is mulch
Me: And where did you learn that?
Noah: I just know it

Grant and I both were about dying at this point and then kept up a running gag about the bears and mulch the rest of our adventure. He had Kayla so convinced that there were only no bears on paths with mulch that she didn't want to go on any other path. If anyone has any clue to where he may have gotten this, I'd love some ideas. I thought it was hilarious!

So the kids are running down the path in front of us when they both suddenly stop, turn around and yell "Look Mom, deer!" Sure enough, within 10 feet of where they were just off the (mulch) path is probably a year old deer nibbling on some bark. We of course immediately called Papa to claim ice cream, but he says he has to actually be there and see the deer too for them to get ice cream. Bummer.

We kept walking, turned a corner to find a Mama Duck and two baby ducklings swimming in a little puddle! Now we actually had two families of ducks in our neighborhood last year but this is the first ducklings we've seen this year. Adorable! Continuing down our path we spotted three more deer, which the kiddos and I were able to get within about 15 feet of. Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE living here? We also found a swing set we had to stop and play on (my baby boy has figured out how to pump!) before heading back to the car and home for today's other celebration; Crepes Suzette.

I may have finally found the ideal crepes batter. We decided it needed a bit more flavor (I made vanilla ones last time that had better flavor but not as nice of a consistency) and so are going to try to make them again and add some vanilla. But these were smothered in orange yummy goodness which I decided not to light on fire as I had gone for a non-alcoholic version. Kayla especially enjoyed them, finishing off two entire crepes all by herself. Mind you this was after a piece of pizza, a banana and probably 1/4 of a bag of cheese balls (and no, that's not an exaggeration, ask Grant). Think the mini diva is growing again?

So even though my day had some really crummier moments earlier (not due to the kiddos, other stuff) Thing 1, Thing 2 and my funny husband totally brought it around to a much better place. Plus I learned that bears are afraid of mulch. Plus, did you know that Cecil Fielder is Prince's Dad? And that he played first base for the Tigers? (Oh how I adore my twosome)

Leg of Lamb (or not really) tomorrow and Greek Madness in Kid Kitchen. Until then...