Fishy High Fives

Life with three kids is undoubtedly chaotic what with camps, dance classes, basketball practices and games, art classes, birthday parties, play dates and so on and so on. It sometimes feel like being the only driver in a multi-national transportation company. But every once in a while it is nice to take your foot off the gas for a while and do something really low key. Like going fishing.

So, with another family we drove to a local park and grabbed some pizzas along the way. After both families ate pizzas and drank juice and sodas and chatted for a while we set about trying to catch some fish. Nicholas and Jodi have never gone fishing before while Angeline has so it was a good experience. It is truly heartwarming watching Jodi sitting there with a pink rod and reel (reminds me of one of my favorite songs) and Nicholas insisting he will catch some fish today. Since we are not real experts on fishing, the other parents took the lead, baited the hooks and made all the preparations necessary. Watching the joy on my kids faces as they each caught a fish (some with a little "help") was priceless. Jodi actually caught the first one!!! Angeline even caught a starfish (seriously she will catch anything and Nicholas hooked something that looked like a catfish (with the "help" I referred to earlier :) The other kids were old pros so they let us enjoy the moment (Thanks guys!) Fishy High Fives all around.

The entire experience has now added one more item on the list of activities for the kids. Can't wait to take them again.

Family Restrooms

One of my biggest pet peeves is going to some public establishment and finding there is not a family restroom there. In fact one of my favorite stores is Wal-Mart. They have a huge family restroom (at least my store does and it is actually clean – very important!)  When I have Nicholas it isn’t a big deal. But when I have Jodi (or both toddlers) it is an issue. At least Angeline can go to the female restrooms by herself. But when I do have to take Jodi to the restroom I have to go to the men’s room, cover her eyes and make a mad dash across the room to a stall. I remember doing that with Anga as well.

Funny enough, before kids it was not something I paid much attention to but now I tend to favor any place that has family restroom (and a clean one at that! Ahh, the little things that makes life so much easier.