Impromptu

A long time ago I read an article in some family or woman's magazine about taking time to say "yes" to your kids. The article went a little further that I would want to (candy for breakfast?) but the idea has stuck with me. Obviously with two working parents we have to say "no" a lot - either out of exhaustion or frustration or, you know, just because. But this week it's just Kyle and I and today I decided we would (shhhhh!) skip church and have some fun! I didn't give Kyle the green light by saying I would say yes to everything he asked, but I decided I would be more open to possibilities of saying YES. It helps that it's 70+ degrees today. We started out with a great breakfast where Kyle helped me crack and cook some eggs. Then after getting ready for the day we headed to Barnes and Noble, which FYI is very quiet at 10:00 am on a Sunday! We spent a long, long, time reading books and magazines, playing with the train set and loafing in a multitude of chairs. Kyle finally decided on the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia, "The Magician's Nephew" a book I didn't even push him toward, but was thrilled with because I read the same book to Tony when he was 7! (Tony is now 19.) When we left the book store Kyle glanced across the street and said, "Can we go to PF Chang's for lunch?" YES we can. We shared kung pao chicken and pot stickers and a lot of good conversation. Our waiter was funny and engaging and couldn't get enough of Kyle's funny ways. Then it was into the mall for a shirt for school pictures on Tuesday then Kyle wanted to go to Putt Putt - okay, we're off!

This afternoon I'm going to be saying yes a lot more to things that are in and around our neighborhood and maybe close the day with a carpet picnic and a good movie. It's been nice saying yes and forgetting about towels that needed to be washed and floors that need a good vacuuming.

Oh and my newly found yes-ness led me to invite three of the boys back to our house for an hour after cub scouts. I found myself surrounded by four 7-8 year olds who kept saying dude this and dude that. Apparently this is their way of communicating.

YES - it's a good thing!

I'm ready to go back!

We had a marvelous time at Disney World - the trip was a complete surprise to Kyle and we were driving under the "Welcome to Disney World" sign before we told him what was going on! He was so excited and shouted, "Today I start living!" He's a little off the beam sometimes! My best friend Angela and her two lovely girls (Larissa, 12 and Zoe, 9) met us at Disney which was an added bonus for all of us!

We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and had our coffee each morning with zebras, giraffes and the like right off our balcony. We did Animal Kingdom Park, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot - with extra time at Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. We also did a day at Sea World - which if I had to do it over again I would have put that at the beginning of the trip instead of at the end...it was a bit of a letdown after Disney!

Enjoy the photos!