Mother's Day

Mother's Day came at a convenient time this spring. With no big high school ultimate tournament to shoot like last year (or the year before), I was actually in town and in the house for most of Natalia's special day. It was a nice change of pace.

I tried to make up for 2013 and 2014 by actually planning something special and manageable. Sure, "fantastic" and "memorable" may have been preferable, but I'm a full-time realist now that I have three kids. Whatever I planned had to take into consideration two things: me taking the girls swimming in the morning so Natalia could go to Zumba, and, perhaps more importantly, Lucia's afternoon nap. (Good Lord, what will I do when she stops napping? I can't think about this.) Any plan I created had to be built around these two events. Doing otherwise would have resulted in catastrophe, which may have been memorable, but surely not special.

I even managed to plan everything out before Sunday morning arrived. Amazing! So when Natalia woke on Sunday, she was presented with a neat itinerary detailing everything we hoped to achieve that day. The plan was:

9:00 am: Burt takes girls swimming, Natalia goes to Zumba

11:30 am: Depart for hike and picnic

1:30 pm: Return home, naptime for Lucia

3:00 pm: Go watch Andres play baseball

5:00 pm: Special dinner out

7:00 pm: Wally's ice cream

For us, that's a full day. I kept my fingers crossed that we could make it happen without too many tantrums.

The morning turned out to be a snap. The girls loved swimming, as usual, and Andres read while Lucia and Celia were in the pool. We even got the girls' favorite changing room--the one all the way at the end of the hallway, dubbed "the secret room" by Celia (which sounds weird, but whatever)--afterwards. It was a good start to the day.

Then it was time to do some gift shopping. I know--probably a bad idea to wait until the morning of Mother's Day to do this--but I did have the legitimate excuse that my plans to go the day before had been put on hold because all of the kids had playdates. So, alongside many other parents and kids, we spent some money at the Paper Store in North Waltham, where the kids picked out a bracelet and set of earrings for Natalia. We even bought her two cards there, as Celia wasn't completely sold on the card that Andres, Lucia, and I had picked out, and lobbied hard for another one that she thought was "so special." Of course everybody around us thought the kids were being so cute. They were. On the way out, Lucia even shouted "Happy mama's day!" to everyone.

Back home, the kids were very proud of their gifts and wanted to give them to Natalia right away. So that's what we did. In addition to the newly-purchased jewelry, they also gave her a picture frame decorated with their fingerprints (something I had seen on Pinterest or Real Simple or some other manly craft website). The plan was to take pictures throughout the day, and then frame some nice ones afterwards. Nice idea, right? I thought so. 

(Ed. note: I did take pictures, but the whole framing thing has ended up on my lengthy photographic to-do list. I need to do that soon.)

With gift-giving and hugs and kisses behind us it was time for the real work of the day to begin. I assembled lunches, water bottles, and a diaper bag and before long we were back in the car headed up Route 60 to Beaver Brook, where we would take our Mother's Day "hike." Beaver Brook isn't much more than a wooded, dirt track around a small pond, but it seemed like a perfect place for the three sets of small legs in our party. It ended up being a nice walk in the woods, over a couple bridges, and then back to a small open field, where we enjoyed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruit, and juice boxes.

Happy hikers.

Braving the rapids.

Lunch!

Our hike behind us, people (Lucia and, to a lesser extent, Celia and Andres) seemed ready for some quiet time. The drive home was quick and no sooner was Lucia down for a nap than the rest of us enjoyed a quiet afternoon as well.

For an hour, anyway, as it was soon time to take Andres to baseball. Such is life during weekends in the spring...there is always somewhere for someone to be, and quiet stretches of 3, 4, 5, hours with no commitments feels like a luxury. I volunteered to take Andres and Celia to baseball, leaving Natalia to enjoy being home with a sleeping Lucia. They would walk over in a bit.

Baseball was what baseball always is--a slow game made slower by long at-bats and vague strikeout rules, but occasionally punctuated with crisp, flawless plays. I've really begun to appreciate those brief glimpses of competence. Big hits are fun to watch. But you know what's better? A 6-3 groundout where the fielding and catching are both executed without a hitch.

Andres digs out a single.

Making a play in the field.

Andres has, to his credit, made some of those plays. In this game, he hit the ball reasonably well, got on base a few times, and didn't make a meal of any balls that came his way in the field. A good showing.

Next up? Dinner. With ease, comfort, and kids' picky taste buds in mind, Natalia chose Brewer's Coalition. Clearly many other mothers and fathers had made a similar calculation as the place filled up with families during our time there. Natalia and I ate, the kids picked, and Andres and I talked basketball with the Bulls vs Cavs going on in the background. I took a picture of Natalia and Andres, and soon enough everybody was crowding the camera, wanting to be photographed with the guest of honor.

Two hams at dinner.

Happy Mother's Day!

We finished up and as we made our way to the car, I reviewed the day. Successful morning at the pool, good presents, nice hike, fun at baseball, and now a somewhat relaxing dinner--with only one tantrum and an occasional whine to deal with. The day had, actually, gone somewhat according to plan.

Now it was time to celebrate with ice cream. The kids had earned it. And I think we had earned it, too. We sat and enjoyed our treats, happy to be all there together, and relieved that our long day had such a sweet conclusion.

Enjoying a sweet treat.

Everyone loves Wally's!