Field Day; It's Not Just for Kids

I took Friday off to be with my oldest for her field day. I was slotted for 12:00 to 12:35...not to run an actual event, but to take the kids out to the field and sort of babysit while they participated. My group of ten was too precious (including my own little chocolate morsel). They're first event? Sack races! The mom running the event succeeded in confusing the kids thoroughly, so then I came up with a different set of rules that had them hopping for joy. Between the two of us, we came up with ways to keep it interesting. Unfortunately, there's only so much hopping you can do in ten minutes. I wish they'd thought to include more activities or shorten the time...plus, it was nearly 90 degrees. Too damn hot!

Next, they had a popcicle station. The kids all got a chance to cool off under the trees and suck on their popcicles (most everyone picked green). Funny how none of them wanted to rest under the trees, but rather decided it would be much more fun to play with Indy's feet and touch her hands with their grubby little disease carriers. Man! I was all about the baby wipes when station three finally opened up.

Station three was "Jump the Creek" where you take two jump ropes and have the kids jump over. Then, you space out the ropes a bit more and have them do it again. This lasted all of three minutes, but the mommy who ran this station was creative. "Okay. Let's all play Duck, Duck, Goose!" Perfect! Seven minutes later, all the kids had had a turn and it was time for the fourth and final station.

Parachute play! Okay, whoever thought this would keep a 5 year old's attention needed to rethink because after only 30 seconds of this, the kids were bored. It consisted of grabbing onto a circular, multi-colored, nylon cloth with handles. The kids shook this while rubber chickens bounced around on top. Yeah. Lame. Can someone point me to the water balloons, please? Turns out, the older kids got to do more waterplay; balloons, water guns, silly slides. So, apparently if you're five you don't like water. I totally needed to be on the field day committee. I'll see about that next year.

After field day, I took my daughter by the place that is to be her summer camp (first day today). She was shy, which I anticipated, but anxious to do some fun activities this summer. When we got home, she was running a fever of 102, poor kid. I made her lie down and gave her a dose of children's motrin. She rested, drank juice, had her lunch and watched Matilda. It was so cute and she totally enjoyed it. The little girl in the story is supposed to be 6 1/2, so I could see she felt a sort of kinship with her. Thankfully, she didn't feel a kinship to her situation. That girl had it rough, but she did get her happily ever after.

The rest of the weekend was very pleasant, aside from sickly kids (Indy wasn't feeling so hot after all the vaccines she got). We washed cars on Saturday and went to the park yesterday. Hubby is trying to "plan" events in order to give the family more focused time together. It actually worked! Making arrangements and sticking to them, allowed his mind to focus (so he wouldn't drift off to sleep). He says that he wants to take the girls to a different park today...he and only the girls. Personal time for mom. Yahoo! I'm thinking I'll get a good workout in. The kind that will make me wanna pass out afterwards. I'm missing my workout time.

Tomorrow is the babe's dress rehearsal and dad has to take her (but I will definitely meet them there). He also has to take her to the dentist on Wednesday. I'm so happy he's getting so involved with the things I do all the time. It gives me a break, but also gives him more time with the kids. She's so excited about her recital and we have a few people coming outside of our immediate family. I hope she doesn't get stage fright. This is the first time she will be performing in front of a large group. I'm hoping she eats up all the attention and continues forward with performance studies. I suppose all will be revealed on Wednesday night (performance night). I wonder if Indy will be into dance like her big sister? I've been thinking about how her personality will manifest, once she's older; will she be an extrovert or an introvert? will she have lots of friends? will she adjust to change better than her sister? will she totally love music and animals or not care for them? It's an adventure everyday! Now, if I could just get her to sleep through the night again...

P.S. She tasted carrots this weekend and seemed to like them. She had a little trouble keeping the food in her mouth but, we had pretty good success, nonetheless.